Japan on 10 December approved an expected relaxation of its ban on the export of defence equipment. The new defence policy paves the way for the development of a joint Japanese-US ballistic missile defence system. Japan also has completed a new five-year defence spending plan that, if approved, would result in a total defence budget of 24.24 trillion yen ($233 billion) from 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2010. This represents a reduction of about 4% compared with current spending levels.
Source: Flight International