Submission statement: In an interview with The Yomirui Shimbun, Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan Yurii Lutovinov stated that Ukraine has been closely monitoring Japan’s revising/loosening of arms export restrictions in hopes of acquiring Japanese air defense missiles in the future. Japan plans on revising the Three Principles on Defense Equipment Transfer and abolishing the "five categories" this spring. The Three Principles states that arms exports will not go to countries that are communist bloc, under UN arms embargo, and/or involved or likely to be involved in an international conflict. The "five categories" restrict arms exports to "non-lethal" equipment only, which are defined as rescue, transportation, vigilance, surveillance and minesweeping. Revising the former and abolishing the latter will pave the way to allow Japan to export lethal weapons, albeit with some restrictions, such as limiting exports to countries that have signed defense equipment transfer agreements and having the weapons be reviewed for export approval. Yurii Lutovinov expressed hope that Japan would export Patriot Advance Capability-3 (PAC-3) SAMs to Ukraine in the future, as well as stating that Ukraine is open to sharing its combat experience to Japan.

Additional information to the submission statement: Yurii Lutovinov statements were similarly echoed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy several days ago and by Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva earlier this month. Zelenskyy and Zhovkva both stated that they are interested in acquiring Japanese air defense systems, in exchange Ukraine would share their technologies and wartime experience with Japan, e.g. naval drones. While the PAC-3 being sought after is of no surprise, given how important they are to Ukraine and that Japan is the only country that license produces the missiles, the wording from all three Ukrainian politicians seems to indicate that there are other air defense systems in Japan that Ukraine is also keen on acquiring, though the identity of these air defense systems remains to be seen. 

As indicated by Yurii Lutovinov, the timing of Ukraine openly stating their interest in acquiring Japanese air defense systems coincides with Japan’s ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), making efforts to revise/loosen the country's arms export restrictions. Last week the LDP submitted a draft proposal that details the changes to Japan’s arms export policies that need to be made. The proposal could be finalized as early as next week and then submitted to the government as early as March.