The Defense Ministry wants to start production of some key parts for the next-generation missiles, which Japan is researching with the United States for a missile defense system, as soon as within the next few years, the Asahi Shimbun said.

Such joint production would aim to make Japan's defense-related technology more competitive, it said.

Asahi said the issue of joint production came up in talks between Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Tokyo this month, and that Ishiba explained that Japan's ban on weapon exports was an obstacle.

Joint production means Japan would provide parts it has made to the United States and would require a review of the existing ban, which only allows arms-related exports to the United States and then only in the form of technology, the newspaper said.

Defense Ministry officials could not be reached for immediate comment.

In 1967 Japan adopted a three-point policy against weapon exports that included a ban on arms exports to communist states.

The government tightened its policy in 1976 to ban exports of weapons to all countries, but in 1983 loosened its stance to allow exports of weapon technology to the United States.

Worries about North Korea's nuclear arms program have re-ignited calls within Japan to rethink its past pacifism, stemming from the country's U.S.-drafted constitution that renounces war as a means of settling international disputes.

Japan has done joint research with the United States on developing a missile defense system after North Korea fired a ballistic missile that flew over Japan in 1998.

The Defense Ministry requested more than a billion dollars in funding in August for a two-stage U.S. missile defense system. The spending proposal must be approved by parliament.

Tokyo and Washington have been studying the development of a ship-to-air missile capable of downing incoming ballistic missiles since 1999 and Japan's Defense Agency wants to make an advanced ship-to-air missile with the United States, the Asahi Shimbun said.

The agency is also seeking 134.1 billion yen (1.2 billion dollars) in the next fiscal year starting in April to buy a US missile system that would deploy an Aegis destroyer-based anti-missile Standard Missile 3 (SM3), the daily said.

With the United States, Japan hopes to produce a ship-to-air missile more advanced than the SM3, it said.

But the Asahi said the joint missile project could require a review of Japan's ban on exports of weapons.

In 1976, the government banned arms exports to all nations, but made an exception in 1983, following a request from Washington, to allow only "technology" exports to the United States.

If Japan and the United States launched joint missile production, Japanese manufacturers would very likely export their weapons products to the United States, an illegal move under the current policy, the daily said.

On Friday, former defense agency director-general Fumio Kyuma said Japan should review the export ban.

"At a minimum, I think we should allow the export of parts for weapons systems to our alliance partner, the United States," Kyuma was quoted by the Asahi as saying.

The controversial move is tied to ongoing research by the two countries on a missile defense program.

The agency has already decided to purchase a missile system developed by the United States in fiscal 2004 that would deploy the surface-to-air Patriot Advanced Capability 3 system in the Kanto region along with an Aegis destroyer-based Standard Missile 3 (SM3) system.

The agency is seeking 134.1 billion yen in the next fiscal budget to deploy the missile defense system.

The two countries are currently trying to produce a more effective system than the SM3. The advanced system would be able to destroy a wider range of incoming ballistic missiles more quickly.

Japan is handling four research areas, including development of an infrared seeker to track missiles. Defense Agency officials hope within a few years to move to development and mass production of the nose cone to protect the infrared seeker as well as rocket motors.

The move to mass production would require revising Japan's current ban on the export of weapons.

In a Nov. 15 meeting, Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba acknowledged to visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the export ban was a key obstacle to joint mass production of the new missile defense system.

Liberal Democratic Party executive Fumio Kyuma, a former Defense Agency director-general, also said Friday the time may have come to rethink the export ban.

``At a minimum, I think we should allow the export of parts for weapons systems to our alliance partner, the United States,'' Kyuma said.

Analysts said Kyuma's remarks were intended to add momentum to debate about the ban within the government and ruling coalition.

(IHT/Asahi: November 24,2003) (11/24)