Space launch: Technologies codeveloped by the FS-X project may contribute to Japanese efforts to build an indigenous space launch industry -- again in competition with America's own developing commercial launch capabilities.
This paper is designed to illuminate the arguments in favor and against the FS-X project, to pose questions that should be considered in the course of congressional deliberations, and to suggest a possible approach.
Sometime in the near future, the Administration is expected to submit to Congress, under the provisions of the Arms Export Control Act, a certification announcing its intention to approve General Dynamics' export license application for codevelopment participation in the Japanese FS-X project.