일본의 방산 무기 개발 소식...

 

AW&ST 최근 호에 올라온 일본 관련 소식 2개를 소개합니다.

 

우선 첫 번째 기사는, 그동안 일본이 독자적으로 추진했던 각종 방산 장비 (무기) 개발을 앞으로는 제3국과의 공동 개발을 통해

추진하고자 한다는 소식입니다. 독자적으로 추진했던 F-2 전투기와 AH-64 Apache 공격헬기 도입 과정에서 경험한 개발비 및

도입 단가의 상승을 되풀이하지 않겠다는 의지로 보입니다. 또한 일본이 자체적으로 실시하고 있는 방산물품의 수출금지 정책

역시 해제할 가능성이 있다는 보도입니다. 이는 일본 국내용 즉 자위대라는 제한적인 물량으로는 개발비 회수 및 제작 단가의

하락을 기대할 수 없다는 점을 인식한 것으로 보입니다. 한편 일본이 방산 분야에서 제3국과의 공동 개발을 추진할 경우, 후보

국가로 호주가 유력하다는 분석을 하고 있습니다.

 

두번째 기사는, 일본 방위성이 기존 UH-1J Iroquois 헬기를 대체할 다목적헬기 (Utility Helicopter) 를 개발하고자 한다는 내용

입니다. 현재 Kawasaki, Mitsubishi, Fuji 등 일본 국내 3개社가 경합을 펼칠 것으로 예상되는 가운데, 방위성은 예산 절감을

위해 새로운 기종 개발 보다는 기존 모델의 파생형을 선호한다는 보도입니다.

 

이러한 가운데 Kawasaki 중공업은 OH-1 혹은 AW101 을 기반으로 하는 파생형을, Mitsubishi 중공업은 UH-60J 의 파생형을

그리고 Fuji 중공업의 경우 UH-1J 파생형을 각각 제안할 것으로 예상하는 기사 입니다.

 

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Edging Toward Partnership

Japan, seeking cheaper weapons development, considers easing its export ban

Aviation Week & Space Technology, 09/13/2010

Author : Bradley Perrett

 

Momentum is building for Japan to ease its nearly complete ban on arms exports, raising the prospect of the country taking incremental steps to participate in international weapons programs.

 

The latest move toward relaxing its severe restrictions comes as the defense ministry seeks funding for preliminary technological development for a sixth-generation fighter — a program that would be far more achievable if the aircraft’s systems, and perhaps the fighter itself, can be developed cooperatively (AW&ST Sept. 6, p. 29).

 

While the phrase “Japanese arms exports” prompts images of Mitsubishi F-2 strike fighters or Kawasaki XC-2 airlifters turning up at international arms shows, the ambitions of Japanese industrialists and policy makers seeking to relax the ban are much less ambitious. They hope that Japan might begin to do what most Western European countries have done for decades: working on new weapons with allies, to extend production runs and share development costs.

 

That cannot be done now because cooperating with an ally implies developing and sending military parts to that ally.

 

The renewed push to ease the policy has appeared in the form of a recommendation from an official advisory panel, the Council on Security and Defense Capabilities in the New Era. The Democratic Party of Japan government will consider the recommendation as it prepares to update the National Defense Program Guideline to take account of changing strategic circumstances. The new guideline, setting out the overarching principles of Japan’s defense policy, is due to be prepared by the end of this year.

 

Easing is as much as can be expected. “This will be an incremental process,” stresses Rikki Kersten, a specialist in Japanese security policy at the Australian National University in Canberra. Dropping the ban altogether would be politically impossible, but Kersten expects the restrictions will be loosened by making exceptions. Each exception will be for a specific purpose and for a set period, she says. As time passes, the exceptions can be renewed and become progressively more numerous.

 

Japanese politicians have taken a similarly incremental and tightly defined approach to authorizing deployments of Japanese forces abroad — in Afghanistan, for instance. And the incremental approach to easing the export ban has in fact begun, since there is already an exception for cooperating with the U.S. on ballistic missile defense.

 

The blanket export ban was put in place in 1976, following looser restrictions introduced in 1967. It is a policy, not a law, so the government can change it just by saying so. The question of easing it is only one aspect of a wider debate about the need to adapt to new strategic circumstances by accepting closer security cooperation with allies — above all, the U.S. The issue of the arms ban was also brewing under the former administration of the Liberal Democratic Party, whose defense committee also recommended an easing.

 

The latest report specifically cites the defense industry’s need to join international projects as a key reason for making such a change. The shifting strategic balance in Asia, notably including the rise of China, also points to a need to review the policy, it says, adding that Japanese defense production is costly because of small production runs.

 

“In my opinion, the main factor is economics,” says Bhubhindar Singh, an assistant professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “The government is looking for ways to enhance the competitiveness of the Japanese economy. The realities of the economy — and pressure from the business community — are pushing the Japanese government to venture into areas that were taboo before.”

 

Japan might also be interested in reducing its reliance on U.S. military technology, he adds.

 

The panel particularly urged closer ties with South Korea and Australia, which, after Japan itself, are the two strongest U.S. allies in the region. Relations with South Korea remain troubled by a view that Japan has still not faced up to its history as a colonial power and its aggression in World War II, but Australians now rarely discuss the war.

 

Moreover, Australian and Japanese defense procurement plans have an important area of overlap in non-nuclear submarines. While Japan has become one of the world’s leaders in the technology, Australia has developed plans to double its fleet of submarines to 12.

 

“There is an opportunity for Australia and Japan to cooperate,” says Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Andrew Davies. “The United States would also have to be involved, because Australia would want a U.S. combat system.”

 

Not all parts of the Japanese military-industrial complex are crying out for foreign cooperation, Kersten says. For instance, the country almost certainly does not want significant foreign involvement in its space program, which it is deliberately pursuing to create independent capability.

 

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Rationalization Looms

Japanese defense ministry seeks funds to begin utility helicopter program

Aviation Week & Space Technology, 09/13/2010

Author : Bradley Perrett

 

The Japanese military expects to begin work on a utility helicopter next year after a competition that may determine whether Fuji Heavy Industries can sustain and develop its rotorcraft business.

 

The defense ministry has requested ¥4.6-billion ($54.9-million) funding for next year to begin the ¥28.4-billion development of a utility helicopter by March 2018 to replace Bell UH-1J Iroquois for the army. The project name is now New Multi-Purpose Helicopter; its former moniker — UH-X — is being assigned to a separate requirement for a search-and-rescue helicopter to replace the air force’s UH-60J.

 

The project budget is low, but the ministry says it is opting to build only a derivative design, which cuts costs by two-thirds and development time by a year.

 

If Kawasaki Heavy Industries wins the work, it will cement its position as the country’s leading helicopter maker, following the OH-1 Ninja program, in which it developed an armed scout aircraft for the army.

 

Kawasaki received the last order for OH-1s in the budget for the current fiscal year, but it has other programs to keep its skills shart if it loses the utility helicopter competition. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has UH-60JA orders for the army. But Fuji’s license production of UH-1s has been winding down since the last funding authorization for that type three years ago, and no replacement work is assured.

 

Kawasaki has proposed a derivative of the OH-1 as the new utility helicopter. Fuji has offered a design based on the UH-1. Mitsubishi’s proposal is unknown.

 

The ministry expects the winning manufacturer will build four prototypes: one for static strength tests, one for tie-down testing (in which a helicopter’s dynamics are put through their paces without taking off), and two for flight tests. A test specimen for vetting the main rotor would also be built.

 

Fuji built Japan’s UH-1s and derivative AH-1 Cobras, of which 158 and 84, respectively, are in service. Its remaining helicopter program is the AH-64DJP, a Japanese version of the Apache that it began building in 2005 with a requirement for 60. But that program has been curtailed at 13 units.

 

So if Fuji fails to win this order, it would sustain its helicopter business only by license-producing a foreign design chosen for the other Japanese military rotary-wing program up for grabs, for search-and-rescue aircraft. There is no prospect of developing an all-new Japanese helicopter for that program because so few would be built, replacing 42 UH-60Js. Mitsubishi can be expected to propose an updated version of the UH-60J, while Kawasaki would probably propose the AugustaWestland AW101, which it has built under license for the Japanese maritime forces.

 

As to the utility helicopter program, the ministry says the army’s version of the Iroquois, the single-engine UH-1J, needs replacing because it is unsuitable for long flights over water and lacks the range to reach outlying islands.

 

The army wants an aircraft that can carry a greater payload and operate at very low altitudes and in hot weather at high altitude. While Mitsubishi builds the Sikorsky UH-60 under license, the ministry says the 10-ton helicopter is more capable than a UH-1J replacement needs to be.

 

The new utility helicopter would be used in five scenarios: invasion of the Japanese main islands, invasion of the remote islands, beating back infiltration by guerillas or special forces, international peacekeeping and disaster relief. The second mission explains the importance attached to safe flight over water.

 

Like the OH-1, Fuji’s UH-1 derivative has two engines. Its rotor would have four blades, instead of the two on most UH-1 versions, including the UH-1J.

 

The engine type is not confirmed for either competitor, but there will be a strong inclination to fit a pair of Mitsubishi TS1 turboshafts, especially for the Kawasaki proposal. The OH-1 has two TS1-M-10s, with ratings of 660 kw. that support a maximum aircraft mass of 4 tons. The UH-1J operates at up to 4.8 tons. Mitsubishi is developing a version called XTS2 to deliver 940 kw.

 

Mitsubishi developed the TS1 especially for the OH-1, and the ministry and industry can be expected to seize any opportunity to prolong the production run of such a major piece of equipment.

 

The proposed production run for the new utility helicopter is unknown, but Japan Military Review says the army is seeking 120 and favors the Kawasaki.

 

The program is the latest illustration of the difficulty that Japan incurs in not only seeking to develop its own military equipment but in trying to use more home-grown designs in each generation of technology. As development costs escalate globally, and as the Japanese military struggles with a budget fixed at no more than 1% of an almost stagnant national economy, the ministry proposes not to retreat from domestic development to license production but to go the other way. Concurrently, production runs are becoming shorter with each generation, pushing unit costs higher.

 

The common solution is to develop equipment jointly with allies, but Japan’s self-imposed ban on arms exports prevents this (see p. 57). Although the ban is under review, the utility helicopter program is not structured to take advantage of any changes.

 

 

  Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) F-2A ⓒ USAF

 

  JASDF F-2A ⓒ USAF

 

  JASDF F-2A ⓒ USAF

 

  Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) SH-60J ⓒ U.S. Navy

 

  JMSDF SH-60J ⓒ U.S. Navy