The Sankei Shimbun learned on August 10 that the Defense Ministry made plans to develop domestic amphibious vehicles to be used for Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) operations to take back remote islands controlled by enemies. The government will earmark some 4 to 5 billion yen in a FY2017 budgetary request for research and development.   Although the ministry has been….Read more

Japan’s plan to purchase a U.S.-made unmanned area vehicle (UAV) is becoming increasingly uncertain on account of the high cost of using the aircraft and operational restrictions arising from technical capabilities and the limited provision of technology by the U.S. The Defense Ministry is now exploring the possibility of jointly developing a drone with Israel. However, caution has been voiced….Read more

Out of the six major Japanese corporations that participated in Eurosatory two years ago, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and five others did not attend the world’s largest defense and security equipment exhibition held in Paris this year. They are beginning to show wariness toward a push by the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to promote exports of weaponry following the….Read more

U.S. secretly encourages Japan to equip its vessels with “cruise missiles” to counter threats posed by China and North Korea   Military experts around the world view President Obama’s speech in Hiroshima as the declaration of a new military doctrine. This is because his Hiroshima speech is akin to the one he made in Prague in 2009. After the Prague….Read more

Eurosatory, one of the largest international arms exhibitions in the world, opened on June 13 in Villepinte in northern Paris. The show ends on June 17. From Japan, ten companies, including NEC and Mitsubishi Electric, participated as well as the Ministry of Defense’s newly created Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency (ATLA), which made its debut at the expo this year.….Read more

Sunday’s Asahi ran a prominent inside-page report saying that despite the Abe administration’s policy of encouraging arms export, major Japanese defense contractors are not enthusiastic about it. The defense contractors are aware that their products are not very appealing to foreign customers given that the SDF, which has never fought a war, has practically been their sole client for decades.….Read more

NHK, Fuji-TV, and TV-Asahi reported at noon that Australian PM Turnbull announced this morning that French shipbuilder DCNS won the contract to develop the next generation of submarines for the Royal Australian Navy. According to Fuji-TV, the Australian prime minister explained that while Japan can make high-performance submarines, France can develop ones that meet Australia’s needs. NHK said PM Turnbull….Read more

Tuesday’s Tokyo Shimbun wrote that plans are underway to conduct the maiden flight of the nation’s first indigenous stealth plane in February, explaining that the Defense Ministry will study the feasibility of developing stealth fighter jets by examining data obtained from the experimental flight.  

Nikkei projected that during the upcoming foreign and defense ministerial talks in Tokyo on Friday, the GOJ and the UK governments are likely to confirm commencing a joint study on the development of bullet-proof vests and related technology for use by riot police and military personnel in urban warfare and terrorist attacks in residential and commercial zones.  

Friday’s Tokyo Shimbun gave top coverage to the Defense Equipment Agency’s initiative of enacting legislation to make it possible to export second-hand defense hardware, such as bullet-proof vests, armored vehicles, and submarines used by the SDF, either free of charge or at low prices. The agency is reportedly considering exporting the equipment to emerging countries with the goal of deepening….Read more