Turkey a battleground for Asia arms exports

[unhappycamper]

http://atimes.com/atimes/Japan/JAP-01-131213.html



Turkey a battleground for Asia arms exports
By Peter Lee
Dec 13, '13

Expanding economies, growing tensions, incremental shifts away from the West and toward multipolar geopolitics, and the re-emergence of Japan as a full-fledged military power are contributing to a 21st century shift toward Asia as a major arms supplier, as illustrated by Turkey's recent interest in Japanese tank technology.

Unexpectedly, the peaceful island nation of Japan has a best-of-breed battle tank.

Apparently, the Type 10 project was announced in 2008, with the stated mission of protecting the Japanese homeland against North Korean invasion because, of course, Japan still operates under its pacifist constitution and any military-related activity is supposed to be strictly for the purposes of domestic defense.

The Type 10 Battle Tank is in the news, at least in China's state-affiliated Global Times, because Japan is in negotiations to supply its tank engine technology to Turkey for Istanbul's next generation "Altay" battle tank under the rubric of "joint development". [1]