Virendra
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Note the excited headline by Reuters here. Someone is very happy.
Changing the stutus quo in Japan, the new leader is taking decisions and making things happen.
Although his flickering stands on economic reforms have come under severe criticism already. Yet his poise on the much needed defense gear up in Japan is solid.
This new body of research is can also be expected to give the right impetus, to the level of general interest and priority placed on defense matters in Japan today.
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Japan to tap technology for military use, another step away from pacifism | Reuters
(Reuters) - Japan is finalizing a budget for a new command centre for cutting-edge research modeled after the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to try to tap a broad swathe of civilian technologies with potential military uses.
The planned research program is another symbol of hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to bolster Japan's military as he seeks to make it less bound by the limits of the pacifist post-war constitution.
Besides raising defense spending modestly after years of declines, Abe is seeking to ease Japan's self-imposed ban on weapons exports and revise an interpretation of the constitution that prohibits the country from militarily aiding an ally under attack.
....
....
"We have DARPA of the United States in mind, but it does not mean we are creating another DARPA," said Science and Technology Minister Ichita Yamamoto.
The project will include security but it is not solely to be meant to create military technology, Yamamoto told a news conference last week.
Unlike DARPA, which is within the Pentagon, the Japanese program - already dubbed "JARPA" by some - is to be overseen by the Cabinet Office.
"The starting point is not to develop military applications, but civilian projects that may have eventually have military uses," said Satoshi Tsuzukibashi of the defense-production committee at business lobby Keidanren.
"It's not pure military," he said. But "the concept is high risk, high impact, like DARPA."
....
....
Defense experts said Japan's planned program could help tap technologies developed by companies such as consumer electronics firm Sharp Corp or ceramic component maker Kyocera Corp which, unlike traditional defense contractors such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, have tended to shy away from military research.
Japanese universities have also mostly shunned research for military technology.
"This might be a strategy to demilitarize TRDI and gain access to 'pacifist' corporations that don't want to be 'merchants of death'," said an expert in U.S.-Japan security ties.
The program could also give Japan a bigger bang for its research buck, a welcome outcome given the country's huge public debt.
"The problem in this country is that the distinction between military and non-military is so strict that these (research) activities have not been coordinated," said Narushige Michishita, a security expert at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
"But now they will be working together and economies of scale and efficiency hopefully will be boosted. It will never be DARPA, but we will do a better job with given resources."
(Additional reporting by Linda Sieg, Tetsushi Kajimoto and Yoshifumi Takemoto; Writing by Linda Sieg, Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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Regards,
Virendra
Changing the stutus quo in Japan, the new leader is taking decisions and making things happen.
Although his flickering stands on economic reforms have come under severe criticism already. Yet his poise on the much needed defense gear up in Japan is solid.
This new body of research is can also be expected to give the right impetus, to the level of general interest and priority placed on defense matters in Japan today.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Japan to tap technology for military use, another step away from pacifism | Reuters
(Reuters) - Japan is finalizing a budget for a new command centre for cutting-edge research modeled after the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to try to tap a broad swathe of civilian technologies with potential military uses.
The planned research program is another symbol of hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to bolster Japan's military as he seeks to make it less bound by the limits of the pacifist post-war constitution.
Besides raising defense spending modestly after years of declines, Abe is seeking to ease Japan's self-imposed ban on weapons exports and revise an interpretation of the constitution that prohibits the country from militarily aiding an ally under attack.
....
....
"We have DARPA of the United States in mind, but it does not mean we are creating another DARPA," said Science and Technology Minister Ichita Yamamoto.
The project will include security but it is not solely to be meant to create military technology, Yamamoto told a news conference last week.
Unlike DARPA, which is within the Pentagon, the Japanese program - already dubbed "JARPA" by some - is to be overseen by the Cabinet Office.
"The starting point is not to develop military applications, but civilian projects that may have eventually have military uses," said Satoshi Tsuzukibashi of the defense-production committee at business lobby Keidanren.
"It's not pure military," he said. But "the concept is high risk, high impact, like DARPA."
....
....
Defense experts said Japan's planned program could help tap technologies developed by companies such as consumer electronics firm Sharp Corp or ceramic component maker Kyocera Corp which, unlike traditional defense contractors such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, have tended to shy away from military research.
Japanese universities have also mostly shunned research for military technology.
"This might be a strategy to demilitarize TRDI and gain access to 'pacifist' corporations that don't want to be 'merchants of death'," said an expert in U.S.-Japan security ties.
The program could also give Japan a bigger bang for its research buck, a welcome outcome given the country's huge public debt.
"The problem in this country is that the distinction between military and non-military is so strict that these (research) activities have not been coordinated," said Narushige Michishita, a security expert at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
"But now they will be working together and economies of scale and efficiency hopefully will be boosted. It will never be DARPA, but we will do a better job with given resources."
(Additional reporting by Linda Sieg, Tetsushi Kajimoto and Yoshifumi Takemoto; Writing by Linda Sieg, Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
----------------------------------------------
Regards,
Virendra
