JUNNOSUKE KOBARA, KONATSU OCHI and NATSUMI KAWASAKI, Nikkei staff writers   TOKYO — Amid increasing military threats from China and North Korea, Japan’s defense industry has been shoved to the edge of the fighting ring because of domestic companies’ successive withdrawal from the production of defense equipment.   Given the difficulty of developing fighter jets and other cutting-edge weapons by….Read more

Sunday’s Nikkei led with a report saying that an increasing number of Japanese firms have stopped producing defense equipment because the Ministry of Defense has reduced its orders of such equipment by half over the past 20 years. As a result, Japan has increased its dependence on the United States for advanced equipment, the paper wrote. The paper argued that Japan needs to concentrate its resources on the development of uniquely advanced defense….Read more

Tokyo, Dec. 24 (Jiji Press)–Some 20,000 pieces of information related to Japan’s defense may have been leaked in the January 2020 large-scale cyberattack on Mitsubishi Electric Corp. <6503>, the Defense Ministry said Friday.     They included 59 pieces with potential to affect the country’s national security, according to the ministry.     The ministry said it will demand the company tighten information management and will review its information….Read more

All national dailies wrote that according to the Defense Ministry, leading UK defense contractor Rolls Royce will team up with IHI to jointly develop the engine for the next-generation fighter jet that the ministry plans to roll out in 2035. As the British government also plans to develop a jet fighter of its own in a similar timeframe, the two….Read more

Today’s Sankei front-paged the disclosure by multiple GOJ sources that when drafting a bill on enhancing the economic security of the defense industry, the Kishida administration is considering incorporating a provision allowing the Defense Ministry to instruct domestic contractors to tap different procurement agents if the delivery of components that they plan to purchase from overseas poses risks. The GOJ….Read more

The government is considering drafting an economic security promotion bill focused on defense and aimed at strengthening Japan’s manufacturing capabilities and technological infrastructure for fighter jets and other key defense equipment, several government sources revealed on Dec. 10. The government plans to submit an economic security promotion bill covering a wide range of industries to the January ordinary Diet session….Read more

Nikkei gave top coverage to the Defense Ministry’s plan to extend the range of a cruise missile that is currently under development to about 1,000 km in order to enhance deterrence amid the intense missile race in the Asia-Pacific region, which the daily referred to as a “powder keg.” According to the paper, the Type 12 surface-to-ship missile with a….Read more

TOKYO — Japan will introduce a new screening process for defense procurement to safeguard against leaks of sensitive information, Nikkei has learned, in a move that will increase scrutiny on supply chains for missiles, ships and other equipment.   New legislation will be proposed to give the government authority to seek changes to existing defense procurement contracts if concerns are….Read more

By Sakakibara Ken   The Ministry of Finance (MOF) examined prices of parts of six aircraft models, including planes and helicopters, procured by the Ministry of Defense (MOD). MOF found that on average there has been a 1.5-to-2.4-fold increase in procurement prices of the aircraft parts since initial purchase, with some parts now costing 10 times the original amount. MOF….Read more

Mainichi and Asahi reported that on Monday a Finance Ministry panel faulted the Defense Ministry for its failure to rein in rising costs for components used in SDF aircraft, noting that the prices of certain parts used in three types of SDF helicopters soared tenfold from FY2014 to FY2020. MOF attributed the surge to what it saw as MOD’s clumsy cost management, calling for it take responsibility for checking the costs of military hardware parts instead of delegating the authority to defense contractors. Noting that the Kishida administration is set to increase defense spending amid the growing….Read more