At the beginning of the day, the Japanese military industry revealed the secret

　　The Japanese Self-Defense Force, the “army based on defense and rescue” after the “World War II”, is now gradually standing at the forefront of the changing Asia-Pacific stage. Behind this expanding army is a huge military industry supported by the world’s third largest economy. The companies that provide the main equipment for the Self-Defense Force are all representative Japanese companies, such as Mitsubishi, Kawasaki, Shinmeiwa, Japan Steel Works, Komatsu, Miya…
　　Japan has always been a maverick who is unwilling to be lonely. In recent years, Japan has become more and more active in politics, economy, military affairs, diplomacy, etc., and is making unremitting efforts to return to the center of the world political arena.
　　Especially in the military field, since December 27, 2011, Japan’s military industry broke the long-standing framework of the ban on foreign arms sales and started the construction of two new aircraft carriers. India became the first buyer.
　　Previously, Japan’s military industry had only one customer, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. Companies that provide major equipment to the Self-Defense Forces are all representative companies in Japan. Companies such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries can independently complete the construction of fighter jets and warships. But most companies can only manufacture part of the weapons and equipment, which requires cooperation between companies to complete the overall work. For example, the construction of a tank requires the cooperation of 1,300 companies, while a warship requires the participation of about 2,500 companies.
　　But at a time when Japan’s finances have tightened, defense budgets have shrunk, and military-industrial companies have begun to suffer. Japan’s total military budget in 2012 was 4,645.3 billion yen, 0.37% less than the previous year. From the data point of view, as of 2012, Japan’s military expenditure growth rate was negative for 10 consecutive years. With fewer weapons available to the Ministry of Defense, it will be difficult for companies to maintain their current production and R&D systems. In this way, opening the market overseas through export has become the only choice for Japanese military enterprises.
　　
　　Fighter aircraft for both military and civilian use, amphibious
　　Representative companies: Shinmeiwa Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries
　　The main manufacturers of aircraft for the Japanese Self-Defense Forces are Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Fuji Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Shinmeiwa Industries, the latter two being the main force in this field.
　　Xinminghe Industry has attracted the attention of more than 50 countries in the world, largely because of its rescue airship “US-2” manufactured for the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
　　Military aircraft manufacturing involves 1,500 companies including Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Shimadzu Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries manufactures the outer wings of the aircraft, and Shinmeiwa Industries is responsible for the manufacture and final assembly of the main parts of the aircraft.
　　The predecessor of Xinminghe was “West Sichuan Aircraft Factory”. Before World War II, the company’s “type two boats” are still popular among aviation enthusiasts, and those technologies are now used on the US-2.
　　At present, Japan, Canada and Russia are the only countries in the world that can manufacture amphibious aircraft. People have great expectations for Japan in terms of military-civilian rescue aircraft.
　　Kawasaki Heavy Industries manufactures planes, helicopters, etc. for the Self-Defense Forces. The main fighter of the Self-Defense Force is 200 F15s, which are mainly manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The military transport aircraft is produced by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which is now producing the C2, the successor to the P3C.
　　
　　There is no order for warships, so why continue?
　　Representative companies: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries
　　The Japanese shipbuilding industry has built giant warships such as Yamato and Musashi in the past, but after World War II, there was a 10-year gap. After that, Japan could only build some supply ships. Frigates used by the Maritime Self-Defense Force or patrol boats used by the Coast Guard. However, the construction technology of warships has been passed down.
　　At present, the companies that build warships are mainly Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which can manufacture military aircraft at the same time, as well as companies such as IHI, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Hitachi Shipbuilding, and Nippon Steel Pipe. The frigates are mainly built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and the submarines are mainly built by Mitsubishi and Kawasaki.
　　At present, the most powerful warships owned by the Maritime Self-Defense Force are “Hyuga” and “Ise”. These two warships can carry helicopters. Because of their huge size, they are often mistaken for aircraft carriers. The construction of “Hyuga” took only 4 years. Although it set the record for the shortest construction time, it took more than 20 years in research and development.
　　Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has a history of building warships for hundreds of years. It can not only produce frigates, but also other water ships and submarines. In 2009, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Shipyard built the destroyer (21DD), which became a new member of the “DD” family after the “Akiyuki” (19DD) and “Targetsu” (20DD) of the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
　　In addition to having great lethality, future warships also need to prevent the opponent from discovering themselves in battle, and “invisibility” becomes particularly important. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has an irreplaceable advantage in this regard.
　　Frigates, submarines, etc., all have a cost of tens of billions of yen. Shipyards usually receive such orders, and they have sales of 30 billion yen all at once. However, after an order is completed, it is difficult to know when the next order will arrive. Enterprises have many difficulties in maintaining normal operations.
　　
　　Tanks, armored vehicles, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries monopoly tank manufacturing
　　Representative companies: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nippon Steel Works, Komatsu Corporation
　　The main weapon of land warfare is tanks. Japan’s third-generation “Type 90” tank production ceased in March 2011, and production of the fourth-generation “Type 10” tank is now underway.
　　Japanese tank manufacturing has always pursued high technology. The fourth-generation “10-type” tank has introduced the latest scientific and technological achievements “C4I”, which integrates command, command, communication, computer and information into each tank, so that information can be communicated between tanks and tanks. Sharing, like the infantry, can be connected into one through the field computer network system, which can make the tank and the infantry cooperate well.
　　The “Type 10” tank also comes from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. When it comes to tank manufacturing, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has a monopoly. Mitsubishi began to develop tanks in 1929, and after the end of World War II, production was interrupted, and it began to switch to construction machinery, and established the Special Vehicle Division. During World War II, the companies that produced tanks for the Japanese Army were Mitsubishi and Hitachi, but about 70% of Japan’s tanks were made by Mitsubishi. After the war, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries had a blank period in tank production, but the company quickly took the opportunity to repair tanks for the US military, so it was able to continue tank production technology.
　　Mitsubishi’s design and production base is in the General Purpose Machinery and Special Vehicle Business Headquarters in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa. The headquarters mainly produces small and medium-sized engines, forklifts, important parts and vehicles for automobiles. In one corner of the factory, there is a 100-meter-long production line dedicated to the production of tanks. Since 1961, Mitsubishi has successively designed and produced tanks of “Type 61”, “Type 74” and “Type 90” for Japan. From January to March 2012, 13 cutting-edge “Type 10″ tanks will be assembled here.
　　From the perspective of the technical level of the final assembly of tanks, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries undoubtedly ranks first in Japan. The manufacturer of the turret on the tank is mainly the Japanese Steel Works, which is the best in Japan in terms of strength and accurate attack.
　　From the perspective of mobility and changes in military strategy, the demand for armored vehicles is very strong. Responsible for this task is an important company in the field of construction machinery in Japan – Komatsu Corporation. When a major earthquake hit Japan in March 2011, armored vehicles played a role in rescue and support activities, and these vehicles were all products of Komatsu.
　　The production of tanks, like aircraft, takes months to assemble a tank and requires quite a bit of collaborative enterprise. There are about 300 companies that are most closely connected, and together with other companies, 1,300 companies will eventually work together.
　　
　　Weapons and ammunition, mysterious ammunition manufacturer
　　Representative companies: Mi Mi Gear, Nippon Steel Works
　　Mi Mi Gear is the world’s most important gear manufacturer, and is also an important manufacturer of HDD (hard disk drive) components and mobile phone LED (light emitting diodes) .
　　On the other hand, Meimi gear has another area of ​​expertise: the manufacture of air-to-ground bombs and precision sights, pyrotechnics (special parts that use gunpowder), and firearms manufacture. Meimi Gear has only 260 people engaged in related work. Their products only account for 1.2% of the company’s total sales, but the number of products is about 1,200 to 2,000, and they are mainly aircraft, torpedoes and other parts.
　　”We were engaged in production in the factory buildings left over from the World War II air raids, and later expanded a little bit to the current scale,” said the company’s employees. All parts are produced after receiving the order, there is no production line, and workers are handmade one by one.
　　Another very important job of the company is to repair and maintain various firearms produced by itself. There is a dedicated site in the factory where professional workers will disassemble and repair the returned firearms. It usually takes 10 years to develop such a worker.
　　The most important job of Meimi Gear is to “use 100% of the product when it needs to be used. No matter what the surrounding environment is, no matter how many years it has been stored”. To this end, each product needs to undergo environmental tests such as vibration, high temperature, and high humidity. After passing these tests, it is guaranteed that the product quality can absolutely stand the test.
　　If it is a civilian product, testing, packaging and other work can be entrusted to outsiders. However, military special products are subject to laws such as the “Weapon and Other Manufacturing Law” and the “Gunpowder Banning Law”, and everything needs to be handled by the people of their own companies. In many cases, officers from the Ministry of Defence would come here in person with technicians to watch the trials and analyze the results.
　　In addition, Nippon Steel Works is a major manufacturer of cannons. Various large single-mounted rapid-fire guns used on frigates of the Maritime Self-Defense Force are mainly produced by this company.