Japan considers easing weapons export rules to prop up defense industry

I thought under the constitution Japan is not allowed to send lethal force or armoury outside the country?

Well, there is a big market for military weapons in the US. They could make a fortune selling machine guns and assault weapons to Americans.

Even small countries like Sweden have big international heavy arms manufacturers like Saab, So I don't think it would be hard for Japan to get a foot in. Problem is that Japan is and will mostly rely on buying their own arms which I'm guessing will be more of a who is friend with who type of thing rather than the stuff actually being useful. They need to start having their stuff evaluated internationally by more experienced users with less money in the game before they can even start thinking about producing weapons for exporting purposes.

They could make a fortune selling machine guns and assault weapons to Americans.

Howa industries, that manufactures the SDF’s rifles is popular in the US as a high-end shotgun and hunting rifle brand. I friend of mine called it the “Rolls Royce of shotguns.”

I guess they want a slice of the war profit pie.

Korea is literally beating out German offerings in European markets right now.

That will be short lived once Germany gets serious about its military again and once the European army becomes a reality. Which it will because France will make sure it does.

Europe will become largely a closed shop for everyone other than the U.S and even their involvement will scale back because European manufacturers will require that breathing space in order to build up their supply chains from what is a relatively low base.

You have keep in mind that Europe wants to move away from American reliance, so tell me, why would they move towards South Korea?

Enjoy it while it lasts.

Only three countries in the world will have managed to complete and mass produce 5th gen fighter jets, the US, China, and Korea.

Which plane are you talking about? The KF21 is still not yet in mass production. And its a 4.5 gen aircraft anyway, so im struggling to see what plane your talking about.

America has delivered 750 F35's. In 2021, over 140 alone.

How many does Korea actually have flying. Lets hear it.

Sell everything you can produce to Ukraine

Oops, I hoped for easing possession rules to prop up my self defense possibilities from zero to significance. lol

Too expensive and too outdated.

Are rules actually the reason why Japan is not exporting weapons and related equipment? I have not heard that Japan has specially attractive things to sell compared with the usual countries that produce high quality equipment. Is Japan competitive? the lack of conclusion of the agreements that have already been done seems to indicate it is not.

Japan is considering relaxing rules for exporting defense equipment in an effort to prop up the domestic defense industry, government sources said.

I guess the Japanese government is seeing the economy going down due to Covid and now Ukraine and watching The USA, EU countries, UK and even Canada selling billions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine and NATO members.

So Japan probably figures, if Japan is going have to deal with the negative it might as well profit also like the rest.

Isn't war grand!

@Samit Basu

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-japan-defence-idUKTRE67Q1K220100827

I was under the impression the ban was put in place after the war (1947), and there has been various 'interpretation' of what 'not maintaining a military' means. However, constitutional experts in Japan has always insisted a pacifist constitution ban overseas deployment of troops or weapons.

Certainly, Japan has on many occasions exported lethal weapons prior to the Abe 2014 amendment (which in itself requires further interpretation of article 9). For example, Japan exported most of the napalm used in the Vietnam war, but that does not mean any of it is done so legally.

"MADE IN JAPAN" - , the new brand name of state of the art "must have" weaponry with all the bells and whistles, coming to the world's crowded international arms bazaars. The Japanese manufacturers and taxmen must be champing at the bit.

"But the easing of export controls is expected to raise concerns that Japanese-made weapons may be used in conflicts overseas."

Weapons are made to be used in conflicts and can only be improved through actual use in battlefields. No wonder Japanese-made weapons are not competitivein the world weapons market.

Japan is too late. The big 7 arms dealer countries will never allow competitors. We are only allowed to be consumers, not exporters.

What's happening to primary customer, Japanese government will buy anything they produce right?

South Korea already in the list of top 10 exporter, Japan can not be found in that list.

https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/arms_imports/

An interesting turn of events.

Looks like Korea's K2 tank beat out German Leopard 2A7 tank in the Polish contest.

Unlike the Norwegian contest where the K2 demonstrated a decisive advantage over German Leopard 2A7 in winter combat test last winter, the Polish contest was considered a Leopard's advantage due to Poland's flat terrain and K2's extreme winter mountain terrain combat capability made little difference for Poland.

Now the reports coming out from Poland is that Poland is seeking to acquire used Leopard 2A7 while buying brand new K2 from Korea.

Korea is literally beating out German offerings in European markets right now.

https://www.armyrecognition.com/defense_news_may_2022_global_security_army_industry/poland_to_acquire_korean_k2_german_leopard_2_tanks_to_replace_t-72s_donated_to_ukraine.html

Poland has started negotiations with Germany to acquire second-hand Leopard 2 MBTs. At the same time, Poland is in talks with South Korea about the purchase of K2PL, a Polish version of the K2 Black Panther MBT designed and manufactured by the South Korean company Hyundai Rotem.

@virusrex

 Is Japan competitive? the lack of conclusion of the agreements that have already been done seems to indicate it is not.

Bingo.

Japan's arms industry has crossed the point of no return; the amount of investment and technology needed to stay competitive in today's arms industry is just too high for small fish like Japan to enter and stay alive. It's sort of like trying to enter the airliner business today; Mitsubishi with its spectacular failure of MRJ has proven Japan can't.

Relaxing rules won't change anything for the fortunes of Japan's arms industry.

@Sh1mon M4sadaToday

I thought under the constitution Japan is not allowed to send lethal force or armoury outside the country?

Article 9 has nothing to do with arms export. It was simply a unilateral declaration by a pacifist PM in the 1960s which was lifted by Abe san in 2014. But Japan had no luck selling its weapons overseas, as India, Britain, Australia and New Zealand walked away after given an opportunity to inspect weapons that Japan wanted to sell.

The only single exception was a radar sale to the Philippines in 2020, on an extremely favorable financing package.

@blue

why is Japan buying its own stuff, if nobody else is?

Every country wants to have a domestic arms industry to be self-sufficient to a degree and Japan is no exception.

Except that FMS(US imports) portion of Japan's arms procurement budget has been rising over the last decade, leaving fewer cut for Japan's domestic vendors which resulted in Japanese domestic arms vendors quitting business en-mass.

This export drive is Japanese government's desperate attempt to stop this mass exodus of Japan's defense contractors from business. For example, half of Japan's F-2 fighter jet parts suppliers quit business, meaning it's not even possible to do F-3 with 50% Japanese content even if Japanese government threw insane amount of money at it, simply because there aren't many Japanese companies left to supply parts for it.

That's an awfully fancy way of saying Japan wants to become a leading arms seller. Perhaps they can feel proud of themselves if people are killing others with "made in Japan" guns.

@JRO

So I don't think it would be hard for Japan to get a foot in.

Well, even Swedish arms hasn't been doing so well lately. After failing to sell Gripen E/F other than Brazil, Saab abandoned own platform and joined UK Tempest program, which Japan is also joining but will change it slightly with a forward fuselage stretch and new larger wing to claim as Japan's own aircraft. Other than that, same engine, same AESA radar, same British avionics will push the Japanese content ratio down below 30% for a supposedly "Japanese" aircraft.

As such, Saab will no longer be an OEM and pursue supplier deals instead, like Boeing T-7A and BAE Tempest.

Only three countries in the world will have managed to complete and mass produce 5th gen fighter jets, the US, China, and Korea.

Japan is hellbent on getting attacked by their enemies

@Samit Batsu

This is the new pork-barrel scheme of LDP to shuffle the last of Japanese wealth out of Japan. I can clearly see that Japan's major customers will be ASEAN nations, primarily Vietnam and Indonesia. ASEAN nations will purchase these worthless weapons from Japan, while the LDP will tout this scheme as a great success. Underneath the surface, LDP elites transfer their taxpayer's wealth to develop the ASEAN nations and enrich the ASEAN elites. The revenues from weapons sales to ASEAN will be invested into ASEAN nations, and Japan's elites will stealthily sell away technologies, stolen from the West, to the ASEAN states (similar to the Soviet-Toshiba scandals)

LDP elites' children, in exchange, secure a future in the ASEAN as Japan will become irrelevant around 2040 (Chinese PM Li Peng once told this to the Australian PM, and Chinese businesspeople treat Japan as a worthless country these days unless it's good for prostitution and tourism - of course, Chinese people own most of the real estate assets related to tourism in Japan).