Paul Lewis/Singapore
Demands for the Japan Defence Agency (JDA) to cut expenditure over the three remaining years of its 1996-2000 mid-term plan is threatening further delays for the Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) in its plans for the acquisition of its first in-flight refuelling tanker.
The Japanese Government has instructed the JDA to reduce its budget by a total of ´920 billion ($8 billion) between fiscal year 1998 and 2000.
The JDA had been allocated ´25 billion for the five-year period, but a recent downturn in the economy has forced the Government to cut its spending.
As part of a scheduled review of the mid-term plan, Japan's armed forces are required to submit their equipment requests for the remaining three years of the 1996-2000 plan. The JASDF had planned to include a request for initial funding of a tanker aircraft in fiscal year 1999, but this could be pushed into the next 2001-05 plan.
The acquisition of an in-flight refuelling aircraft is considered politically sensitive, and a final decision has already been postponed once in 1996. The JASDF, however, has made the acquisition of a tanker a high priority as Japan's military is being asked increasingly to be deployed overseas on peace-keeping missions.
It requires an initial four boom-equipped tankers and perhaps six to 12 aircraft in the longer term. The leading contender for the requirement is considered to be Boeing's proposed multi-role tanker/transport version of the 767. McDonnell Douglas, now part of Boeing, had also been seeking to interest the JASDF in a tanker version of the C-17 transport.
Cuts are likely to made to the number of other fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, such as the new Kawasaki OH-1 scout helicopter, being procured.
Source: Flight International
