Tokyo, Nov 24: Japan plans to jointly produce next-generation missiles with the United States in a bid to upgrade the country's competitiveness in defense-industry technology, a daily said today. Tokyo and Washington have been studying the development of a ship-to-air missile capable of downing incoming ballistic missiles since 1999 and Japan's defense agency wants to make an advanced ship-to-air missile with the United States, the Asahi Shimbun said. The agency is also seeking 1.2 billion dollars in the next fiscal year starting in April to buy a US missile system that would deploy an aegis destroyer-based anti-missile Standard Missile 3 (SM3), the daily said. With the United States, Japan hopes to produce a ship-to-air missile more advanced than the SM3, it said. But the Asahi said the joint missile project could require a review of Japan's ban on exports of weapons.
In 1976, the government banned arms exports to all nations, but made an exception in 1983, following a request from Washington, to allow only "technology" exports to the United States.


On Friday, former defense agency Director-General Fumio Kyuma said Japan should review the export ban.
Bureau Report