Japan to send Patriot missiles to US as stocks dwindle

TOKYO: Japan loosened arms export controls on Friday to enable it to sell domestically made Patriot missiles to the United States, which is seeking to stock up after sending the weapon systems to Ukraine.

Washington has supplied Kyiv with the highly-effective Patriot air defence systems as part of the massive Western military aid effort to help President Volodymyr Zelensky´s country fight back against Russia´s invasion.

“We welcome the Government of Japan´s announcement today that it will transfer Patriot interceptor missiles to the United States to replenish US inventories,” the White House said in a statement.

Japan produces the PAC3 surface-to-air missile defence system, paying a licence fee to US defence firm Lockheed Martin which developed the system.

Japan strictly controls the export of arms under its pacifist constitution, which limits its military capacity to ostensibly defensive measures.

“The appropriate transfer of defence equipment overseas will contribute to... international peace and security, and will also strengthen cooperation with allies and the US,” a Tokyo government document said after the rule was approved by the Cabinet.

Sales of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC3) system to the United States would be Japan´s first export of lethal arms since the end of World War II, local media reported.

With the new rule Japan “will be able to export arms which were domestically produced under licence of a foreign company to the licensing country”, an official in the prime minister´s cabinet told AFP.

A senior ruling party official told reporters this week that the export plan was at the request of Washington, Kyodo News reported.