By PAUL KALLENDER-UMEZU
TOKYO — Almost five decades after it banned international arms sales, Japan is gradually returning to that market as it looks to strike a deal with the U.K. that could lead to joint weapons research and development, according to a senior Japan industrial source.
London has offered Japan a deal to cooperate on six projects for joint research and/or co-development of arms, said Satoshi Tsuzukibashi, with Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), Japan’s most powerful industrial and business lobby.
In an exclusive interview with Defense News, Tsuzukibashi said Japan will formulate its counterproposals and framework that will allow the two countries’ leading defense makers to work together.
“It may be a couple of months or at least several months before it is official, but I think Japan and the U.K. are going to announce something regarding cooperation,” Tsuzukibashi said. “The Japan side has its own ideas, but the main need is to draw up a framework about how to do it.”
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