Japan buying FN, H&K small arms

[Slater]

I wonder if that unit cost for the G28E2 is a typo/mistake?:

"The General Staff Office has a total requirement for 900 G28E2's to be procured at a unit cost of JDY 7 Bn (USD 52, 744 each)and a life cycle cost of around JPY 9.3 Bn (USD 70m).

https://euro-sd.com/2023/02/news/296...g28es-from-hk/

[hotbiggun42]

No swords or throwing stars?

[ThirdWatcher]

I’m kinda surprised they’re not building them under license in Japan. I have a few Winchester/Miroku rifles and their quality/workmanship is the best I’ve seen.

[SteyrAUG]

I’m kinda surprised they’re not building them under license in Japan. I have a few Winchester/Miroku rifles and their quality/workmanship is the best I’ve seen.

I'd bet a donut Japan is still limited by their own Constitution and while they can manufacture arms for export, they are limited in what they can produce for their own needs. In the 1950s their entire government was built around the concept of not having any military capacity at all and their entire industrial capacity generated towards civilian markets.

[mack7.62]

From the link it looks like there is a company building Minimi MK1's, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, but it appears they are winding down production and likely don't want to tool up for the MK3 just to produce 514 guns.

oops never mind there are both 5.56 and 7.62 Minimi MK3's but looks like Japan is going with the 5.56.

https://fnherstal.com/en/defence/por...inimi-556-mk3/

https://fnherstal.com/en/defence/por...inimi-762-mk3/

[ThirdWatcher]

I'd bet a donut Japan is still limited by their own Constitution and while they can manufacture arms for export, they are limited in what they can produce for their own needs. In the 1950s their entire government was built around the concept of not having any military capacity at all and their entire industrial capacity generated towards civilian markets.

That’s kinda sad in that almost none of these people were alive in WW2. I feel the same way about Germans and Italians.

[SteyrAUG]

That’s kinda sad in that almost none of these people were alive in WW2. I feel the same way about Germans and Italians.

I personally believe, despite my grandfathers feelings about Pearl Harbor, that Japan needs to nut the F up pronto with a standing army and first class navy or they are going to be learning Mandarin. I understand the Japanese were first class shitbags guilty of some of the worst horrors of WWII from Nanking to Unit 731 but I also think Hiroshima and Nagasaki made them "born again" good citizens.

I can also understand how, after having a military government from the Minamoto Bakufu in 1252 all the way through to the end of the Japanese Empire in 1945, how several people both in Japan and outside felt the country needed a complete reboot and all their sharp things taken away. To this day, actual swords are regulated in Japan in a manner very similar to machine guns in this country. 90% of the martial artists in Japan are using "alloy" blades called Iaito which cannot be sharpened.

But I think the war criminals are mostly gone and the hardline militarists seem to have died out with Mishima and his failed coup in 1966. And if Japan wants to remain Japan, they need to keep an eye on China. It would also be in our interest to support a stronger Japan in light of China's military expansionist goals.

[Miami_JBT]

Japan has a robust domestic arms industry. Howa has made some fantastic guns for the JSDF. It is just cheaper to buy COTS for them this go around since there is no need for R&D costs.

[SteyrAUG]

Japan has a robust domestic arms industry. Howa has made some fantastic guns for the JSDF. It is just cheaper to buy COTS for them this go around since there is no need for R&D costs.

I've got a Howa AR-180, it's nicer than the Costa Mesa ones I've seen.

[ThirdWatcher]

I personally believe, despite my grandfathers feelings about Pearl Harbor, that Japan needs to nut the F up pronto with a standing army and first class navy or they are going to be learning Mandarin...

That’s the way I feel. My Dad (who served in the Navy during the Korean War, his ship was hit by the Norks) felt the same way. His older brother served in the Pacific in the Army in WW2, and his younger brother served as a Navy helicopter Crew Chief in RVN. I served in the ROK in the early ‘70’s (and was surprised by how much the ROK’s hated the Japanese but they had good reason to feel that way). Nonetheless I wish they would put aside their differences and form alliances with other Asian countries that value freedom like ROC, Vietnam, et. al.