Japan to Give Philippines 5 MSDF Training Aircraft

Tokyo, Oct. 26 (Jiji Press)--Japan has agreed with the Philippines to give the Southeast Asian country's navy five TC-90 training aircraft of the Maritime Self-Defense Force at the end of March 2018. This will mark the first donation of used defense equipment by Japan under the country's revised SDF law, which was enacted in May this year. The planned provision is aimed at strengthening the Philippine navy's monitoring capabilities at a time China continues to build military facilities in the South China Sea. At a meeting with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is scheduled to visit Japan from Sunday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is slated to explain his country's plan to help enhance the Philippines' maritime security capabilities. On Monday, Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera held talks with his Philippine counterpart, Delfin Lorenzana, on the sidelines of an international conference in Clark, the Philippines. The two agreed that Japan will give the Philippines two training planes it has been leasing since March and three additional training aircraft. Manila hoped to obtain the first two training aircraft for free from the beginning. But Tokyo could not give them because the Japanese public finance law prohibits the free provision of national assets to other countries. Instead, Tokyo decided to lease them for a token fee of 800,000 yen per year. A special provision of the public finance law, included in the revised SDF law, has enabled the donation of used defense hardware as an exception. Giving defense equipment free of charge "helps improve regional security environments," a Japanese Defense Ministry source said. Tokyo will also consider giving used defense equipment to countries other than the Philippines. END