Japan Rearms As China Gets Aggressive -- America Gets Ready to Help

China has an aircraft carrier -- and it's making Japan nervous.

Boeing's P-8A Poseidon. If it looks a lot like a 737,
there's a good reason for that. Source: Boeing.

As you've probably heard by now, Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe announced a plan for massive rearmament of the island nation earlier this year. Through the end of the decade, Japan intends to invest more than $240 billion building up its Self-Defense Forces.

   Already, Japan has started buying Boeing's new superfast subhunter, the P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft. And this week, Japan confirmed what had previously only been speculated -- that it will be buying billions of dollars worth of additional military hardware from the U.S.

   According to a statement from Japan's Ministry of Defense, Japan will also be buying:

• At least 17 MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, manufactured by a Boeing-Textron joint venture.

Japan thinks the Bell Boeing MV-22
Osprey might be just the right aircraft
it needs to outfit its new fleet of
"helicopter destroyers." Photo: U.S. Navy.

Two eyes in the sky -- E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes 

in flight. Photo: Northrop Grumman.

• An unspecified number of Northrop Grumman's newest eyes in the sky -- the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft.
• And a handful of Northrop's unmanned spy birds, as well -- Global Hawk drones.

Northrop Grumman's RQ-4 Global hawk drone is a
lot bigger than you think. This lineup helps to lend
some perspective. Photo: Northrop Grumman.

Look out Santa -- Japan's shopping list is getting bigger
And that's just for starters -- just the acquisitions that made the headlines on websites such as Flightglobal and Avionews this week. Elsewhere in Japan's now-published fiscal 2015 Defense Budget Request, we see mention of Japanese interest in acquiring:

• "Ship-based" unmanned aerial vehicles -- apparently Fire Scouts from Northrop Grumman.
• A half dozen of Lockheed Martin's stealthy F-35 fighter jets.
• New, as-yet-undetermined, combat helicopters and amphibious coastal attack vehicles.
• Additional PAC-3 Patriot missile defense systems from Lockheed and Raytheon.
• A brand new, Aegis air defense system-equipped guided missile destroyer (and the outfitting of a second, existing destroyer, with Aegis.

In short, there's a weapons-buying bonanza going on in Japan. And there are opportunities aplenty for U.S. defense contractors to profit from Japanese rearmament.