Japan to reconsider cancellation of RQ-4 purchase

Japan is said to be reconsidering the option of canceling its purchase of 3 RQ-4 Block 30i unmanned air vehicles.

U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Juan Torres

The decision was triggered by the U.S. Air Force’s proposal to retire all 21 of its Global Hawk Block 30 aircraft in the Fiscal Year 2021 budget. This proposal has been endorsed by the House Armed Services Committee with conditions.

Japan is now worried that the cost of maintaining the RQ-4 will shoot up as it will be operating the air vehicle along with South Korea only. This will lead to more expensive spare parts due to a smaller fleet.

Northrop Grumman has been given a nearly $490 million contact to build three RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30i air vehicles for Japan in 2018.

Tokyo is also concern about losing an expensive Global Hawk after a U.S. Navy BAMS-D RQ-4A was shot down by Iran in June last year. Japan wants to monitor North Korea using its own Global Hawk.

Two documents released by the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) revealed that the Japanese Ministry of Defense considered canceling the purchase of three RQ-4s in June, 2017.