Nikkei Asia: Japanese Patriot deliveries to US could leave Tokyo defenseless

By giving the Patriot anti-aircraft missiles to the United States, Japan risks exposing its air defense to China, writes news Nikkei Asia Service.

Earlier, a number of media reported that Tokyo is ready to transfer part of its Patriot air defense missiles to Washington, so that the Pentagon can then share them with Kiev. Formally, the United States will give away its systems, and the Japanese will only compensate for the lack of the required quantity in the arsenals. However, there was also an opinion that Japanese missiles have a chance of hitting Ukraine. Moreover, it will be impossible to verify this from the outside.



Not everyone – both in Japan and the US – agrees that Ukraine has priority. There is an opinion that one should be located in the Asian direction.

Last year, Japan's Defense Ministry announced that it had only about 60% of the interceptor missiles needed to defend the country.

To pave the way for Patriot shipments, Japan eased restrictions on arms exports for the first time in nearly decades, allowing them to certain countries. To ensure the move is consistent with its pacifist constitution, Japan says such weapons cannot be supplied to countries at war. The Defense Department said in a statement that “the destination is the United States and the end user is the U.S. military.”

The US government must obtain Japanese consent before transferring missiles to a third country, the ministry said. Under these rules, systems provided by Tokyo cannot ship directly to Ukraine, the Nikkei Asia article said.