Japan Press Weekly

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2015 August 26 - September 1 [POLITICS]

Abe’s move to create war-fighting Japan will give US weapons maker greater business opportunities

President and CEO of the world’s largest weapons manufacturer U.S. Lockheed Martin Corporation, Marillyn Hewson, is seeing Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s move to make Japan a nation fighting in wars along with the U.S. as a chance to sell its products to Japan.

On October 10, 2014, Hewson delivered a speech at a conference held by a pro-business educational nonprofit organization, the U.S.-Japan Council. She said that the relationship between Japan and the United States was a product of the mutual security alliance and that it has become an essential driver of global economic growth.

The president of weapons maker in her speech also pointed out that the Japanese government is her corporation’s “largest international customer”.

The Japanese government plans to buy 42 F35 fighter jets which were developed mainly by Lockheed Martin. The price of an F35 jet is more than 20 billion yen. In July 2014, the then Defense Minister Onodera Itsunori announced that the government will consider purchasing more of the jets.

Hewson welcomed the Abe Cabinet’s decision to approve Japan’s use of the collective self-defense right (July, 2014). She added that the company is ready to meet Japan’s security-related needs from Aegis destroyers to PAC3 missiles and F35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters.