Way back in 2010, I blogged about the discovery of a wrecked Japanese military plane beneath Lake Towada. The plane had crashed during a 1943 training mission, killing 3 young soldiers.
I have an interesting update about the airplane. It has been removed from the lake !
Japan has lifted its self-imposed ban on exporting arms. The decision, announced by Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura comes amid growing concern on rising costs and public debt.
A landmark agreement with China to promote direct exchange of their currencies is also set to ease debt worries. Currently businesses in both countries need to buy US dollars before converting them into the desired currency thus adding extra costs.
The move is a blow to the dollar but Tokyo and Beijing agree it will help promote economic growth in the region.
“ China’s growth offers opportunities for Japan and the rest of the world. Stronger ties between the two nations are essential for solving regional and global problems, ” explained Yoshihiko Noda, the Japanese Prime Minister
China is reportedly Japan’s biggest trading partner worth an estimated 260 billion euros. Tokyo also announced its intention to buy Chinese government bonds which analysts claim may prove beneficial to both nations. Beijing believes the new agreement will further open up its financial markets.
Its believed Japan could finalise a similar deal with India when Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda visits New Delhi later this week. It would provide a boost to the rupee Asia’s worst performing currency this year. It is understood the two finance ministries are putting the final touches to the deal.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Maneuver Combat Vehicle (MCV)
The Maneuver Combat Vehicle ( 機動戦闘車 kidou-senntou-sha ) is a wheeled tank destroyer of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.
The maneuver combat vehicle, which will equip combat units, will be useful for attacks to armored fighting vehicles and personnel using a large caliber gun after rapid deployment in response to various contingencies.
Contest is a bid to boost recruitment to the nation's self-defense forces at a time of rising regional tensions
Amid aggressive territorial demands from China and growing debate over its pacifist constitution, Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force knows just what it needs : a popularity contest.
The JMSDF has launched an online contest to pick the most popular male and female member of the naval service. Contestants include a sailor who boards suspected pirate ships off the coast of Somalia and the pilot of a patrol plane cruising the contested East China Sea.
Japan’s armed services have risen dramatically in public opinion polls since the earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan in 2011. The yearlong standoff with China over remote, uninhabited islands has boosted the naval service’s standing, as well.
Nonetheless, the Japanese public remains largely pacifist and the self-defense forces face continuing challenges to meet recruiting goals.
“ Young people in Japan have a lot of options, and they don’t know much about the JMSDF, ” says Lt. Cdr. Takashi Nobukuni, a JMSDF spokesman. “ We’re hoping they will look at this and think, ‘That’s something I’d like to do. ’'
The “ Mr. & Ms. JMSDF ” contest is aimed squarely at a young, technologically adept audience. Voters are asked to download a smart-phone app with professionally produced video profiles of each candidate and an interactive quiz about the JMSDF.
The six candidates were selected by JMSDF staff. No surprise, then, that all are relatively young and photogenic, with service occupations that would appear challenging or adventurous.
In addition to the P-3C pilot and boarding-crew member, the candidates include a submarine rescue diver, airborne electronics specialist, air traffic controller and shipboard navigator.
The app has been downloaded more than 10,000 times since it launched last month, making it one of the most popular in Japan. More than 100,000 votes have been cast. The submarine diver (male) and ship navigator (female) lead each category.
For all its pacifist leanings, Japan maintains a formidable military. Its defense budget is the world’s fifth or sixth largest (depending on exchange rates and other factors). With more than 100 surface warships and close ties to the U.S. Navy, the JMSDF is considered among the top naval forces in the world.
Yet, Japan is in the midst of a wrenching debate over security issues. China’s defense budget has been rising for more than a decade and is more than double that of Japan. Beijing is pressing claims to a group of remote islands in the East China Sea, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, and has begun operating modern warships close to Japan’s main islands.
Prime Minister Abe wants to boost Japan’s defense budget, ease restraints on the self-defense forces and amend the constitution’s war-renouncing Article 9. But Abe’s first nine months in office have been devoted largely to economic issues, and opinion polls show tenuous public support for his defense agenda.
“ There is more public awareness and acceptance of the self-defense forces than in the past due to the tensions with North Korea and China and the tsunami relief effort. But it’s still fairly low, and [the Japanese people] don’t want constitutional change or a vastly greater force,” says Robert Dujarric, director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies, at Temple University, in Tokyo.
The “ Mr. & Ms. JMSDF ” contest was inspired by a JMSDF humanitarian assistance operation in the Philippines last year. Profiles of several JMSDF members were posted on the JMSDF website and generated thousands of generally positive comments in Japan’s busy social media. The contest winner will be featured in a lengthy video posted on the JMSDF website and social media and may take part in recruiting and public awareness campaigns.
If the contest is successful it could help reverse the lack of prestige that has plagued military service throughout Japan’s post-war period. But there could be another deterrent, says Dujarric : “ It’s hard work. ”
The Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday that a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship intruded into a Chinese military exercise in the open sea and remained there for three days despite warnings China issued through the International Maritime Organization.
The Japanese warship entered the exercise area in the west Pacific at 10:41 am on Oct 25 and stayed until 7:32 am on Oct 28, Yang Yujun, the ministry's spokesman said during a monthly news briefing.
He added that Japan also sent reconnaissance craft and ships to follow the Chinese ships.
" The above acts of the Japanese ships and planes not only interfered with our normal exercises but also endangered the safe navigation of Chinese ships and planes, and might have even lead to accidents, including misjudgment and injuries, " Yang said.
" This is a highly dangerous provocation. The Chinese Defense Ministry has made solemn representations to the Japanese. "
The drill, which began on Oct 24 and will last until Nov 1, is the first open-sea drill in which maritime and air forces from all three of China's fleets have taken part.
Chinese authorities had previously publicized the exercise areas via international maritime organizations in accordance with international practice, alerting foreign vessels and planes to take precautions.
The exercise is expected to improve high-sea combat abilities and hone strategies for utilizing information technology.
The country's three fleets - the North China Sea Fleet, the East China Sea Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet - all took part in the exercise.
Japan eyes government support for military aircraft exports
By Tim Kelly | TOKYO | Mon Nov 4, 2013 9:05pm GMT
ShinMaywa US-2
(Reuters) - Japan is considering providing low-interest loans from a state-run bank to support exports of aircraft designed for military use, the first time such sales are being considered since the end of World War Two, according to officials with knowledge of the still-developing policy.
The step would mark an extension of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to bolster the self-reliance of Japan's military and could open an overseas market worth tens of billions of dollars in coming years for the country's defence contractors.
It would also mark a sharp reversal of the near-total ban on exports of military equipment, a development that could strain ties with China as a more assertive Japan seeks a market for military technology in Asia and beyond.
Japan's post-war constitution, written by the U.S.-led occupation forces, renounced war and a standing army. Major military equipment makers moved into other fields and the current ban did not formally take effect until the fast-growth era of the 1960s and the evolution of Japan's Self Defence Forces put the issue on the agenda.
Two of the initial test cases for Japan's policy shift are likely to be the C-2 military transporter, built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and ShinMaywa Industries' US-2 amphibious plane, according to three officials involved.
Both companies are looking to export civilian versions of the aircraft, which would allow them to avoid the ban. Both companies have also made inquiries about the Abe government's willingness to provide financing to help close sales against established aircraft makers.
In one partial precedent, Japan has extended overseas development assistance (ODA) to the Philippines and Indonesia to help those governments buy Japanese-built ships for coastal patrols.
But the rules of Japan's $17-billion annual ODA programme forbid military support. Japan's government approved the aid after winning assurances that the boats would be used only to counter piracy and terrorism and after winning an endorsement from the United States, Japan's main ally.
A more likely option for aircraft exports, according to the three officials involved in the discussions, would be low-interest loans from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), a state-operated lender headed by former Toyota Motor Corp chief Hiroshi Okuda, to the buyers.
The bank is funded largely by borrowing from the nation's Foreign Exchange Fund Special Account, the pool of money available for intervention in currency markets.
A spokesman for JBIC said the bank does not discuss any loan applications as a matter of policy.
Masanobu Oogaki, a project manager at Kawasaki's aerospace division helping oversee the C-2 project, said officials led by the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry had discussed seeking JBIC loans for the military transporter once the company had a potential overseas buyer.
JBIC typically charges interest of just over 1 percent on a loan of less than five years. The bank has recently been recruited to help Japanese companies win contracts for big infrastructure projects. Most of its lending is linked to securing overseas oil and gas reserves for Japan.
INDIA WEIGHS HISTORIC PURCHASE
ShinMaywa's US-2, used for search and rescue, may be the first Japanese military-designed plane to win an overseas order. Negotiations with India's military for what would be the first sale are already underway, both sides say.
The plane, which could be outfitted for firefighting or as a kind of amphibious hospital, costs an estimated $110 million per unit.
An official at India's Defence Ministry who asked not to be named confirmed that India has shown an interest in buying the US-2 but said no decision had been made.
" Our policymakers are yet to take a decision as they are still assessing how far it would be relevant to Indian conditions, " the official said.
ShinMaywa, which sees Canada's Bombardier Inc. as its main competitor, estimates that there could be a global market of about 100 amphibious planes for which it could compete.
Kawasaki's Oogaki, said his company believes it can compete for as many as 300 orders over the next decade or so with potential customers in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
The chief competitor to Kawasaki's twin turbofan C-2 is the A400M military transport built by Europe's Airbus. Similar in size and capability, the Airbus cargo plane has racked up 170 orders in Europe at a price tag starting at around $160 million.
So far, Japan's Defence ministry has ordered three C-2s at just over $200 million each in the most recent budget.
By opening export markets for military equipment makers, the per unit cost of such equipment could fall because of the volume of production, making it cheaper for Japan's own military as well, a security panel that drafted recommendations for Abe said last month.
The C-2 represents a major upgrade in the ability of Japan's military to shift equipment and troops to far-flung locations.
Compared to its predecessor, the C-1, which is currently in service, the new plane can lift nearly four times as much cargo - enough to carry a mid-size helicopter, as depicted in sales brochures drawn up by Kawasaki.
While the C-1 struggles to reach Japan's outlying islands, the C-2 could carry a load from Tokyo to Kabul, for example.
Abe plans to release a review of Japan's military policy by the end of the year that is expected to include a commitment to open up military exports and arms development programs.
Mitsubishi Heavy is currently in talks over joining the Lockheed Martin Corp led F-35 fighter jet programme as a supplier after Japan placed an order for the aircraft.
In the meantime, Kawasaki, a major wartime maker of fighters and bombers that has became better known for its motorcycles in recent decades, plans to have the C-2 ready for service with Japan's military by 2015.
The company has a team of around 10 people marketing the C-2, which will be sold as the YCX overseas, Oogaki said.
Investors have anticipated a boon to heavy equipment makers from a pivot in security policy under Abe and the sector has outperformed in a rising market. Shares of Kawasaki are up 122 percent over the past year, while ShinMaywa is up 78 percent. Mitsubishi Heavy has gained 90 percent. Over the same period, the benchmark Topix index has gained 58 percent.
(Additional reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo and Frank Jack Daniel in Delhi; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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Post time 28-5-2013 05:45 PM
