Japan, India to discuss military plane sales

JAPAN: Japan is close to signing an agreement to supply amphibious planes to India, a report said Monday, in what would be the first sale of hardware used by the military since a weapons export ban was imposed. During a four-day visit to Tokyo by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh which started yesterday, the two sides are set firm up plans for Delhi to purchase the US-2, a domestically-developed aircraft used by Japan's armed forces.

The sale, reported by the Nikkei business daily, would be the first of a finished product made by Japan's homegrown defence industry since rules were imposed restricting the export of weapons systems and other equipment.

It would also mark a strengthening of the alliance between Japan and India. Experts say the aircraft must be classed as for civilian use if it is to comply with Japan's 1967 self-imposed ban on arms exports, part of the post-World War II anti-militarist drive.

The US-2, which was developed by ShinMaywa Industries and has been sold to the Japanese navy at a price tag of roughly 10 billion yen ($99 million), has a range of 4,700 kilometres (2,900 miles) and can land in seas with waves of up to three metres (nine feet).

"If the US-2 is exported to India for civilian use, that would be the first case of exports of Japanese-developed weaponry used by the defence ministry for civilian use," a trade ministry official in charge of arms sales told AFP.

ShinMaywa opened a sales office in New Delhi last year and has been promoting the plane there, a spokesman for the company said. The plane could be deemed to have a non-military -- for example, search and rescue -- purpose if "friend-or-foe" identification systems were disabled, officials said, making it eligible for export.

Boosting exports from Japan's manufacturing behemoths is a key part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to revive the economy. Abe and Singh are scheduled to meet on Wednesday for a summit expected to concentrate on trade and investment.

AFP