22 July 2014

News Story: Japan approves export of military equipment with sensors for missiles and submarine development

Kawasaki C-2 Transport Aircraft (Image: Airliners.net)

Japanese military contractors are taking their first steps toward selling weapons abroad since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe relaxed an export ban, a politically sensitive shift for a nation that long hesitated to turn its technology prowess into arms-sales profits.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Defense approved exports of a sensor made by Japan's largest military contractor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. for use in air-defense missiles manufactured by Raytheon Co. of the U.S. The ministry also cleared a Japan-Britain research project involving technology for air-to-air missiles.

A week earlier, Mr. Abe and Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia signed an agreement to collaborate on submarine development. Analysts say the deal could give Australia access to a propulsion technology that allows Japanese submarines, built by Mitsubishi Heavy and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., to remain submerged for unusually long periods. 

The government says Japanese arms manufacturers need to be able to export in order to lower the country's high cost of procuring weapons. Because the industry is fragmented and production runs are small, Japan sometimes pays twice or three times as much as other countries' armed forces for comparable weapons, analysts say. And the country has been mostly cut off from international weapons-development joint ventures, which are increasingly used for complex, expensive weapons systems.

Read the full story at Army Recognition