June 17, 2015
With the Abe government promoting the military industry, 64 former officials of the Defense Ministry and the Self-Defense Forces parachuted into the top 10 weapons manufacturers in 2014.
The Defense Ministry made this public on June 2 in response to an inquiry from Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Inoue Satoshi at a meeting of the House of Councilors Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense.
In 2013, the value of contracts between the Defense Ministry and the 10 companies stood at 792.9 billion yen in total, 62.5% of all the ministry’s contracts for the procurement of equipment and services. The 10 companies include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric, and IHI.
The largest contractor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, supplied to the ministry escort ships, new air-to-ship missiles, type 12 torpedoes and other items too numerous to list, amounting to 316.5 billion yen in 2013. The number of defense bureaucrats who obtained post-retirement positions at the corporation was 28 in 2014, which is the largest among the ten, following 21 in 2013 and 20 in 2012.
The second largest supplier was Mitsubishi Electronic which was awarded 104 billion yen in government contracts in 2013 for weapons such as surface-to-air missiles and RIM-162 Sea Sparrow missiles. In 2014, ten former officials of the Defense Ministry obtained position with the company following their retirement from government.
Nine of the ten corporations in 2013 provided over 150 million yen in donations to the political fund organization of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
While giving a large amount of political donations to the LDP, the military corporations are accepting retired Defense Ministry officials and making a huge profit through the sales of weapons.
Past related article:
> War industry doubled donations to LDP bringing about lifting of ban on arms export [June 3, 2015]
The Defense Ministry made this public on June 2 in response to an inquiry from Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Inoue Satoshi at a meeting of the House of Councilors Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense.
In 2013, the value of contracts between the Defense Ministry and the 10 companies stood at 792.9 billion yen in total, 62.5% of all the ministry’s contracts for the procurement of equipment and services. The 10 companies include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric, and IHI.
The largest contractor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, supplied to the ministry escort ships, new air-to-ship missiles, type 12 torpedoes and other items too numerous to list, amounting to 316.5 billion yen in 2013. The number of defense bureaucrats who obtained post-retirement positions at the corporation was 28 in 2014, which is the largest among the ten, following 21 in 2013 and 20 in 2012.
The second largest supplier was Mitsubishi Electronic which was awarded 104 billion yen in government contracts in 2013 for weapons such as surface-to-air missiles and RIM-162 Sea Sparrow missiles. In 2014, ten former officials of the Defense Ministry obtained position with the company following their retirement from government.
Nine of the ten corporations in 2013 provided over 150 million yen in donations to the political fund organization of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
While giving a large amount of political donations to the LDP, the military corporations are accepting retired Defense Ministry officials and making a huge profit through the sales of weapons.
Past related article:
> War industry doubled donations to LDP bringing about lifting of ban on arms export [June 3, 2015]
