Economics
Japan Guns for World's Biggest Defense Deal: Aussie Subs
- Japan ready to share submarine technology: defense ministry
- Abe seeks to strengthen trilateral links with Australia, U.S.
Japan's Kokuryu, a Soryu-class submarine, sails past a vessel during a fleet review.
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Less than two years after lifting a decades-old ban on arms exports, Japan is navigating one of the most complex and sensitive areas of the defense market: submarines.
The country faces a Nov. 30 deadline to submit a final proposal to Australia for its next-generation submarine, the largest such tender in the world right now. A team of government officials, military officers and corporate executives with no experience in international arms marketing is facing off against global heavyweights Thyssenkrupp AG of Germany and DCNS of France for the A$50 billion ($36 billion) program.