Japan wants to offload six destroyers, but should the Philippines take them?
The Interpreter, Lowy Institute
“But platform costs are only part of the acquisition equation. For the Philippines, the Abukuma proposal is a transfer and not a sale of second-hand defence equipment – Manila does not need to pay Tokyo for the ships themselves. What Manila does need to pay for is everything else. As is standard practice, Japan will strip the vessels of their systems and work to refit and refurbish them under a joint development project (JDP) with the Philippines. Entering a JDP would significantly decrease the burden of acquisition for Manila, opening up alternative funding sources such as favourable loans and official security assistance from Japan. More importantly for Tokyo, the JDP allows it to circumvent constitutional restrictions that would prevent the transfer of defence equipment to the Philippines unless otherwise modified for non-kinetic use. So, as far as the platforms themselves – and their accompanying systems – are concerned, Manila seems to have a workaround.”