The government has officially decided to drastically revise the nation’s so-called three principles on arms exports, which would make it possible for Japan to participate in the development and production of military equipment with other countries, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Tuesday.

The announcement by the chief government spokesman came after a meeting earlier in the day of the Security Council of japan, chaired by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

Fujimura read the statement on the decision to establish new rules that would relax the longstanding effective ban on arms exports. The new guidelines are called “criteria regarding overseas transfers of defense equipment.”

The new criteria comprise two key elements:

– japan may participate in joint projects to develop and produce military equipment and technology with other countries, such as the United States and European nations.

– japan may export defense-related equipment to support peace-building or humanitarian objectives.

To read the whole article at The Daily Yomiuri

The new phase of Chinese naval development could include even more new weapons and sensors than the previous phase, if the recent launch of another specialized testing ship is any indication.

Last month, the PLA Navy launched“Ship 893,” its third new weapons trials vessel since 2005. Trials ships are equipped with systems to track and analyze new missiles and sensors during testing.

The People’s Liberation Army develops and builds weapons in five-year cycles, the most recent of which began in late 2010. The 2006-2010 cycle heavily emphasized new ships, including new frigates and destroyers and a refurbished Soviet-made aircraft carrier.

Exactly what kinds of subsystems the PLAN might develop in the coming years is a matter of speculation, but it’s possible to make educated guesses based on the Chinese navy’s major capability shortfalls. “China’s navy continues to exhibit limitations or weaknesses in several areas, including…C4ISR systems [and] anti-air warfare,” the Congressional Research Service reports.

To read the whole article at the  Diplomat

TOKYO, Dec 20 (Reuters) – Japan picked Lockheed Martin’s F-35 jet as its next mainstay fighter on Tuesday, choosing the aircraft over combat-proven but less stealthy rivals, as concern simmers over North Korea and as China introduces its own stealth fighters.

The decision came as Japan and the United States stressed that their security alliance was tight in the face of worry about an unstable North Korea after the death of its leader, Kim Jong-il.

Defence Minister Yasuo Ichikawa said the decision to buy 42 of the stealth aircraft, valued by analysts at more than $7 billion, would help Japan adjust to a changing security environment after Monday’s announcement of the death of the 69-year-old North Korean leader.

Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon hailed Japan’s selection of the F-35, saying it would help establish a strategic, conventional deterrent in the Asia-Pacific region, where concern simmers about instability under Kim’s successor, his untested youngest son, Kim Jong-un.

To read the whole article at  Reuters

Japan said it’s close to selecting a supplier for a fighter-jet order that may be worth more than $4 billion after the Yomuiri newspaper reported that Lockheed (LMT) Martin Corp. will win the contest.

“We’ve entered the final stages,” Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa told reporters in Tokyo today. “I want to make a decision soon.” He declined to elaborate on the timing of an announcement.

Lockheed, Boeing Co. and Eurofighter GmbH have all bid to supply Japan with about 40 planes as the Asian nation replaces older planes and bolsters defenses. Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter may win because of its anti-radar technology and Japan’s traditional reliance on U.S. military hardware, said James Hardy, a London-based analyst at IHS Jane’s DS Forecast, which advises defense suppliers.

To read the whole article at  Bloomberg

Prime Minister Noda is heading to China in December and one of the points on Noda’s agenda will be a request for Chinese help in hunting down the source of the cyber-attacks on Japanese defense manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and the attempted unauthorized access to other defense contractors including Kawasaki Heavy Industries and IHI. According to a Kyodopress release from yesterday, the prospects of cooperation are grim indeed.

A request for cooperation was made back in late September, according to the article, a month after the attack became known to MHI, and around the same time that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department were beginning to tie some of the server activities to Chinese sources. According to the release, “China said in its reply it would contact the relevant authorities, but there has been little progress since, leaving the investigation at a standstill.”

Chinese hackers are believed to behind a number of orchestrated attacks on international and national organizations and businesses throughout the world. Whether the attacks are state-sponsored or not is almost impossible to determine, and China flat-out denies its involvement. However, the Chinese economy could be benefiting from the fruits of attacks such as those at MHI.

To read the whole article at the  Japan Security Watch

In 2007 news agency Kanwa exclusively reported from St. Petersburg that China would buy 4 arresters designed by Marine Engineering Research Institute and made by Proletarsky Zavod plant which produces all Russian arresters and arresting hooks. Earlier on, China had contacts with this plant purchasing constituent parts for Project 956E/EM destroyers.

Kanwa reported referring to a source in the plant that the Chinese had visited it many times and declared intentions to purchase at least 4 arresters (the source used the term “purchase”). The talks took place in the office of Rosoboronexport; negotiators ofProletarsky Zavod presented their production, and the Chinese requested for technical information.

In 2011 the authoritative source told to Kanwa reporter that the negotiations were facing unexpected problems – Russian defense industry’s authorities had decided not to sell arresters for China.

To read the whole article at the  RusNavy.com

Tensions between China and India rose on after scheduled talks on outstanding border issues were cancelled following a row over a speech by the Dalai Lama, the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism, at a religious event in New Delhi.

The spat is the latest in a series of rows as the emerging Asian giants manoeuvre for power and influence in the region.

Diplomats were due this week to discuss the decades-old dispute over the exact line taken by the frontier between the two nations in the Himalayas.

The Chinese are believed to have demanded that the Dalai Lama be prevented from giving the keynote speech at the conference, which will be attended by more than 9,000 delegates in New Delhi. Indian officials refused.

Local media have reported that the Chinese feared the conference could be used by Tibetans as a platform for criticising Chinese rule over Tibet.

Organisers insist it is a purely cultural and religious event, involving intense theological discussions.

To read the whole news clip at  The Guardian

TAIPEI – Members of the U.S. Congress are calling on Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to conduct a National Security Review and a Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States review of a new joint venture between General Electric (GE) and the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).

Two letters sent to Panetta – from Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., and Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va. – criticize the GE deal with AVIC by questioning the formation of an enterprise to develop integrated modular avionics (IMA) hardware and software for China.

“This IMA technology was developed originally for the … F-22 and F-35 fifth-generation fighter program,” Forbes wrote in the Oct. 17 letter.

Forbes said he is concerned the technology could end up in China’s new stealth fighter, the J-20, under production by AVIC.

Wolf responded with a Nov. 14 letter strongly supporting Forbes’ call for a review and questioning whether GE could protect secrets from an aggressive Chinese espionage effort.

“Given the breadth and scope of this espionage, GE’s assertions that they will be able to fully protect sensitive technology lacks credibility,” he wrote. “Should the GE-AVIC joint venture proceed, there is no question that all the sensitive technology involved will be completely compromised by the PLA [China's People's Liberation Army].”

To read the whole article at the  Defense News

South Korean government sources are quoted as saying North Korea’s military recently tested, in the Yellow Sea, new missiles designed to attack ships.

The development is viewed as a new threat to South Korea’s patrol ships and destroyers operating in tense waters off the west coast off the Korean peninsula.

North Korea’s missile tests are reported to have taken place once in October and, again, earlier this month near waters whose boundary is disputed by the two Koreas.

Various South Korean media outlets Wednesday quoted officials as saying North Korea appears to have modified, for an airborne launch, the decades-old Soviet SSN-2-C short-range anti-ship missile, also known as the Styx.

The reports say North Korea fired the missiles from an IL-28 bomber in the Yellow Sea.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry and the military’s joint chiefs of staff say they cannot comment on the reports.

To read the whole news clip on the  VOA

The U.S. Navy has quietly added a capability to its future carrier-launched unmanned warplane that has the potential to tilt the Pacific balance of power. On November 2, the Navy announced it would add equipment and software for aerial refueling to one of its two in-development X-47B armed drones built by Northrop Grumman.

The change could extend, by thousands of miles, the useful striking range of the Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, starting in around seven years’ time. That could put them beyond the effective range of the fast attack vessels, diesel-powered submarines and anti-ship ballistic missiles that China is developing in order to create a defensive perimeter around the Western Pacific.

The first X-47 took off on its inaugural flight in California in February. The roughly 40-foot-long pilotless warplane, which is largely autonomous but can also be controlled remotely by a pilot sitting in front of a computer screen, is scheduled to begin carrier tests sometime in 2013.

To read the whole article at the  Diplomat