NEWS IN BRIEF – REST OF THE WORLD

23 Nov 17. Japan and UK to Collaborate on Missile Development. Japan will team with the U.K. to develop an air-to-air missile, Tokyo’s first defense equipment project with a partner other than the U.S. and a potential turning point for the country’s arms export policy. The planned weapon will incorporate a powerful radar system developed by Mitsubishi Electric into European manufacturer MBDA’s Meteor missile, combining long range and high accuracy. A prototype will be built at an MBDA plant starting in fiscal 2018. Live-fire testing in the U.K. is slated to begin as early as fiscal 2023, at which point Japan and the U.K. will decide whether to put the weapon into mass production. Deployment is expected in the late 2020s. The missile likely will become equipment on the F-35 stealth fighter to be used by Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force, and it could be used to defend far-flung Japanese territories such as the Senkaku Islands, which China claims as the Diaoyu. Exports to countries such as Germany and France will be considered as well. Japan and the U.K. look to announce the collaboration, which upgrades an existing research arrangement, in a joint statement after a meeting of their top diplomatic and defense officials Dec. 14 in London. Japan previously has worked with only the U.S. on defense equipment development, such as the SM-3 Block IIA missile interceptor project. Teaming with London helps reduce Tokyo’s dependence on Washington. (Source: defense-aerospace.com/Nikkei Asian Review)
23 Nov 17. Israeli defense minister seeks defense budget boost. Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman flagged unplanned developments in a “fragile and explosive” region as justification for seeking an additional 4.8bn shekels, or $1.4bn, beyond funds earmarked for defense in a multiyear agreement between the Israeli Treasury and the Ministry of Defense.
He noted that the 2015 agreement hammered out between Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon contained a clause allowing for reopening of budgetary negotiations in the event of security or economic changes defined by respective ministries as “force majeure.”
“There’s been significant, dramatic changes in the security situation, that altered our situational assessment in a meaningful way,” Liberman told reporters here.
He cited three issues of force majeure: “a massive Russian presence” in Syria that did not exist when the budget deal was signed, introduction of precision weaponry by Hizbollah and “other sources,” and a “dramatic acceleration of the Iranian defense industries.”
According to Liberman, the Arab League shares Israeli concerns regarding the acceleration and expansion of the Iranian defense industry. “This has become a source of worry not just here. The Arab League also discussed this recently in Egypt.”
The Israeli defense minister said additional funds would be spread over three years, and that a quarter of his requested plus-up would come from savings achieved through MoD efficiency measures.
Of the existing budgetary agreement that was to continue through 2020, Liberman said: “The easiest way would be to adhere to the agreement… it may be the easiest, but not the correct way” to respond to changing events.
Under the 2015 budget deal, Israeli defense spending for 2018 was pegged at some $20bn, which includes U.S. military aid. Under a new U.S.-Israel aid deal signed in September 2006, which kicks in later next year, Israel is to receive $3.8bn in nonrefundable grant aid for each year of the decade to come, $500m of which is earmarked for missile defense.
Ofer Shelah, an Israeli lawmaker and member of a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Defense Budget, said Liberman would have to come and explain to lawmakers how his requested budget boost fits into an overall national defense plan. “Such requests may be valid, but how are we to know without a comprehensive plan for how the government and the defense establishment intends to deal with t