US, Japan to Address Delays in Defense Equipment Delivery to Tokyo

The United States and Japan have agreed to address the issue of delays in delivery of defence equipment to Tokyo of which there were 132 cases worth ¥32.6 billion in 2018

An agreement was hammered in Tokyo between Japan’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency (ATLA) and the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) Wednesday. The two sides agreed to hold regular meeting concerning delivery of purchased goods and return of overpaid money.

The meeting preceded a series of problems involving Japanese procurement of defense equipment under the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program, which is overseen by the DSCA, Japan Times reported.

According to the Japanese agency, there were 132 cases in which defense equipment worth ¥32.6 billion had not been delivered as of the end of fiscal 2018. Reimbursement had not been made in 263 cases, totaling ¥49.3 billion.

The problems were pointed out last year by the Board of Audit of Japan, which requested that the Japanese Defense Ministry urge the US to take corrective measures.

Japan’s Defense procurements under the FMS program which stood at ¥43.2 billion in fiscal 2011 has surged to ¥701.3 billion in fiscal 2019, the report said.