Japan Accelerates Discussions to Allow Export of Weapons Developed with Foreign Countries

The Japanese government is coordinating measures to allow the export of defense equipment jointly developed with other countries to third countries, keeping in mind the next-generation fighter jet being developed together with the United Kingdom and Italy.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to major Japanese media on the 25th, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with working-level officials from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and coalition partner Komeito, who were discussing the revision of the operational guidelines for the "Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment," and instructed them to resume consultations promptly.

In December last year, Japan decided to jointly develop a next-generation fighter jet with the UK and Italy, featuring diverse operational capabilities and excellent network performance with drones and satellites. This project marks Japan's first cooperation in major defense equipment fields with countries other than the United States since World War II, and the fighter jet is expected to be deployed around 2035.

According to the Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment, which set the rules for defense equipment exports, only five types of equipment?rescue, transport, surveillance, monitoring, and mine clearance?can be exported to countries other than those jointly developing the defense equipment. Under current regulations, even if Japan develops the next-generation fighter jet, it cannot be exported to countries other than the UK and Italy.

In this regard, Japan, the UK, and Italy plan to establish a coordinating body to manage and oversee the progress of the fighter jet development. This body is expected to discuss future fighter jet export issues as well, and to prevent unfavorable situations caused by export bans to third countries, the Japanese government is reportedly accelerating the relaxation of defense equipment export regulations.

Earlier this month, working-level officials from both parties submitted an interim report on the key points of the operational guidelines for the Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment to the chairpersons of their respective party policy councils, initially planning to resume consultations after autumn. However, following Prime Minister Kishida's encouragement to promptly resume discussions and his phone call to the chairpersons requesting the resumption of talks, there is an increasing possibility that the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito will meet again as early as mid to late next month.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.