Japan’s ruling party may tweak military export rules to sell fighter jet jointly developed with UK

Ex-defence minister Itsunori Onodera said LDP lawmakers are also discussing a joint US-Japan command structure that could be formed for national emergencies

Japan ended a ban on military exports in 2014 in a bid to promote overseas sales, but the plan didn’t take off because Tokyo only allowed sales of non-lethal gear

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Japan is revamping its national security strategy to counter what it sees as a growing threat posed by neighbours, including China. File photo: AFP

Published: 12:07pm, 25 Nov 2022

Japan’s ruling party is discussing whether to ease military equipment export rules, in part because without a change Britain would not be able to sell any jet fighters it builds with Tokyo, former defence minister Itsunori Onodera said.

Japan and Britain hope to agree by the end of the year to merge their next-generation Tempest and F-X fighter programmes, sources said in July. Those talks, aimed at a joint project to field a plane in the mid-2030s, remain on track, according to four other people familiar with the discussions.

“Japan could not oppose exports and neither could we insist that Japanese components be removed, so we are discussing what we can do about that,” said Onodera, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party’s Research Commission on National Security.

Japan ended a ban on military exports in 2014 in a bid to promote overseas sales. It hoped the change would allow its armed forces to cut procurement costs and give domestic arms makers such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries access to foreign markets that would boost profits and bolster the nation’s defence industry.

An export boom, however, failed to materialise because Japan only allowed sales of non-lethal gear such as surveillance and rescue equipment.