Japan is increasing the production of military equipment and giving the green light to the export of military equipment.

The Japanese publication Nikkei reports.

At the plenary session on June 7, the law on increasing the production of military hardware and the export of military equipment was passed.

The law is aimed at increasing profits through exports and boosting competition in Japan’s domestic market.

Japan will create a fund to subsidize the costs needed to improve production efficiency and expand the supply network, as well as introduce a cost recovery subsidy in export orders.

The law will enter into force on October 1, 2023, and its main principles are related to the following points:

• supporting domestic production;
• promotion of military equipment and equipment for export;
• protection of information about military equipment and technologies;
• economic stability in production.

The government supports the increase in spending against the background of expanding the military potential of the People’s Republic of China.

The main direction will be cyber defense and the succession of companies involved in the production of components in the interests of the Ministry of Defense.

If the company is financially insolvent, the government will own the production facilities, which it can then transfer to another company.

The perspective of economic security is also being discussed in Japan.

The Ministry of Defense will monitor information security, including the risk of inadvertent leakage of sensitive information to other countries. Companies are obliged to make efforts to protect it.

For the leak, plagiarism or transfer of secret documents related to the Japan Self-Defense Forces, criminal proceedings will be applied to the perpetrators.

The punishment will be imprisonment for a term of up to 2 years or a fine of up to 1 billion yen.

Japan is one of the countries that cannot export lethal weapons to other countries due to legal restrictions. This issue is regulated by the country’s constitution. Such restrictions became mandatory after the defeat in World War II.