Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur arriving at Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport yesterday.
TOKYO: Japan is close to signing an agreement to supply amphibious planes to India, a report said yesterday, in what would be the first sale of hardware used by the military since a weapons export ban was imposed.
During a four-day visit to Tokyo by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which started yesterday, the two sides are set to firm up plans for Delhi to purchase the US-2, a domestically-developed aircraft used by Japan’s armed forces.
The sale, reported by the Nikkei business daily, would be the first of a finished product made by Japan’s homegrown defence industry since rules were imposed restricting the export of weapons systems and other equipment. It would also mark a strengthening of the alliance between Japan and India, which both see rising China as a threat to regional stability.
Experts say the aircraft must be classed as for civilian use if it is to comply with Japan’s 1967 self-imposed ban on arms exports, part of the post-Second World War anti-militarist drive.
The US-2, which was developed by ShinMaywa Industries and has been sold to the Japanese navy at a price of roughly 10bn yen ($99m), has a range of 4,700km and can land in seas with waves of up to three metres.
“If the US-2 is exported to India for civilian use, that would be the first case of exports of Japanese-developed weaponry used by the defence ministry for civilian use,” a trade ministry official in charge of arms sales said.
ShinMaywa opened a sales office in New Delhi last year and has been promoting the plane there, a spokesman for the company said. “We hear there is some demand from the Indian government but decline to comment further as we have yet to reach a contract,” he added. The Nikkei said India is looking to acquire at least 15 of the aircraft.
In 2011, Tokyo eased the ban on arms exports, paving the way for Japanese firms to take part in multinational weapons projects.
The Indian premier said there were “enormous potentialities” for Indo-Japan relations. “India and Japan have a strategic and global partnership. There are enormous potentialities for further enriching our relationship, deepening it and brightening it in the economic relations, security relations, in all areas there is enormous potential for widening and strengthening our relationship with Japan,” he told media after arriving at Haneda international airport.
“The people of India have fondness for the people of Japan. I look forward to further cementing our ties with Japan,” he said.
In a separate report, the Nikkei said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Singh would agree on drafting a master plan for new infrastructure in southern India.
The paper said Japan would supply expertise on the plan to build a power grid, roads, railways and ports, mainly in the area that includes Bangalore and Chennai. Both cities are business hubs for Japanese firms such as Toyota Motor, Nissan Motor and Toshiba.
Japan last year said it would provide up to 132.6bn yen of cheap loans to India, including a 60.7bn yen loan for a power grid system for Chennai and the surrounding area. On Wednesday Japan will pledge a fresh 71bn yen loan for building a subway in Mumbai, the Nikkei said.
IANS/AFP
