> There was a lot of talk about this after the first Gulf War. I have not
heard
> anything afterwards.
I wish I could find more recent assessments. According to another article in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists,
"To be sure, the percentage of Japanese defense spending devoted to research and development is small- 3.2 percent in 1995. But it has risen steadily since 1976, when it accounted for just 1.2 percent of the defense budget. These low percentages, however, are misleading. Japan's civilian technology generates many innovations with potential military applications, ranging from flat-panel displays and semiconductors to composite materials. Giant corporations, while not heavily dependent on defense contracts, devote considerable resources to military-relevant research and development, as well as to dual-use technologies. They are encouraged to do so by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and the Defense Agency. Obstacles to Japan obtaining military self-sufficiency would no doubt be formidable. Japan remains dependent on the United States-both for weapons purchased outright and for the technology for systems manufactured under U.S. license. And Japanese leaders well understand that a sharp increase in defense spending and a declaration that major weapons would be developed and produced independently would set off alarms in East Asia."
"The fear of damaging the U.S.-Japanese alliance and exacerbating trade disputes with the United States has also restrained the pursuit of military autonomy. But if Japan ever loses faith in the reliability of the alliance-because it perceives a decline in American power or finds itself embroiled in constant trade wars with the United States-these restraints could quickly vanish."
(Menon Rajan, Japan: The once and future superpower, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Jan/Feb 1997) http://www.thebulletin.org/issues/1997/jf97/jf97menon.html
There is some recent data about value of annual contracts awarded to Japanese corporates such as Mitsubishi Industries, Kawasaki Industries etc. on SIPRI website, The SIPRI List of Top 100 Arms Producing Companies http://web.sipri.org/contents/milap/milex/aprod/top100/byrank.htm
We know that Japan is participating in the US missile defense programme, has now a substantial space programme and possesses huge quantities of weapons grade plutonium.
Ulhas