Japanese Media: Japan's Huge Investment in American Equipment Delivery Continues to Be Delayed

Reference News Network reported on February 11 According to Japan's Tokyo News on February 9, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi proposed a slogan to strengthen defense capabilities, with spending on the procurement of American weapons showing an upward trend. However, the results of an audit by the Board of Audit revealed that the United States had not delivered weapons five years after the signing of procurement contracts, and some delivered weapons had malfunctions, with repairs taking over 14 months, and similar cases have occurred multiple times. Why is the Japanese government using taxpayers' money to procure such weapons? Does Japan really intend to continue its "explosive purchasing" of American weapons?

Data released by the Board of Audit in January showed that in the fiscal year 2023, Japan's contracts for defense equipment procurement from the U.S. government through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) mechanism amounted to approximately 1.3867 trillion yen (about 8.85 billion USD), more than three times the amount in fiscal year 2018 (407.8 billion yen).

The Board of Audit had previously investigated the signing situation of FMS contracts. This investigation was conducted at the request of the Diet, focusing on contract amounts from fiscal years 2018 to 2023. The results showed that the cumulative contract amount over five years was 3.55 trillion yen, of which the contract amount related to the F-35 stealth fighter was 1.0035 trillion yen, and the contract amount for the maintenance of components related to the Aegis system for destroyers was 265.1 billion yen.

In 2022, the Japanese government formulated three security-related documents, establishing a policy to invest 43 trillion yen in defense spending during the fiscal years 2023 to 2027.

If the Takaichi administration does not adequately consider cost-effectiveness after the House of Representatives election and continues to blindly promote the policy of enhancing defense capabilities, Japan's "explosive purchasing" of American weapons may only increase.

The Ministry of Defense emphasized that the advantage of FMS lies in "the ability to procure high-performance equipment, which is beneficial for enhancing Japan's defense capabilities," but it has long been criticized for many issues, such as Japan often purchasing weapons based on U.S. quotes, while the delivery time of the weapons depends on the U.S. situation.

In fact, according to the Board of Audit report, among the 519 FMS contracts signed but not yet delivered by the end of fiscal year 2018, 118 contracts (valued at approximately 1.14 trillion yen) had still not been delivered by the end of fiscal year 2023, five years later.

Additionally, the investigation found that among the six second-hand C-130R transport aircraft delivered to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force through FMS from fiscal years 2014 to 2016, several were reported to "have serious issues requiring major repairs," with actual repair times exceeding 14 months.

It is evident that despite Japan's slogan of "strengthening defense capabilities" and spending huge sums on American-made weapons, many weapons have not actually arrived in Japan, and Japan has even procured some defective aircraft.

Nevertheless, multiple political parties still advocate for strengthening defense capabilities in this House of Representatives election, and Takaichi has hardly addressed the issues related to the procurement of American weapons, with FMS-related problems rarely mentioned.

Journalist Yūjin Fuse, familiar with security policy, pointed out: "Is the way the already limited budget is being used really appropriate? There is a complete lack of necessary discussion both in this election and in the Diet. It is important for public opinion to pay attention to this issue."

Why have successive Japanese governments continued to "explosive purchase" American weapons?

Fuse stated that the United States has a huge trade deficit with Japan, and Japan's large-scale purchase of weapons from the U.S. is not only driven by defense needs but also to ease trade friction. "The act of paying a large sum of money to the U.S. to purchase weapons constitutes a purpose in itself." (Translated by Ma Xiaoyun)