26 December 2009

Japanese Navy beefing up

Japan is looking to acquire another helicopter-carrying "destroyer"

Japan's budget for next fiscal year may include allocations for new tanks and a new helicopter-carrying destroyer, sources told the Kyodo news agency Wednesday.

The new items would help maintain the deterrence and response capabilities of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, which currently has about 900 tanks, the report said. Of those, about 200 were procured in the 1970s and may need to be replaced.

The previous Liberal Democratic Party, which lost the elections in August, had asked for 58 new tanks but the new government led by the Democratic Party of Japan has since cut that number to 16, the report said.


By: Brant

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