US to sell Global Hawk drones to Japan amid tensions with China
The United States has approved the sale of Global Hawk surveillance drones and ancillary equipment to Japan.
The US State Department gave the green light to California-based Northrop Grumman Corporation to supply three RQ-4 Block 30 Global Hawk drones to Japan.
The $1.2 billion deal will go through if the US Congress does not intervene within a month, AFP reported on Friday.
The decision is part of a broader US effort to export military drone technology to allies across the globe amid tensions with a rising China.
The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the sale of the RQ-4 drone to Japan--which is revamping its military in response to marital disputes with China--would not tip the military balance in the Asia-Pacific region.
"The proposed sale of the RQ-4 will significantly enhance Japan's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and help ensure that Japan is able to continue to monitor and deter regional threats," it said.
“This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States. Japan is one of the major political and economic powers in East Asia and the Western Pacific and a key partner of the United States in ensuring regional peace and stability,” the agency claimed.
Tensions have been running high between the US and its regional allies and China over Beijing’s island buildings in the contested South China Sea.
The US Navy sent a guided-missile destroyer within 12 nautical miles of one of China’s artificial islands last month.
The move, which was meant to reassure allies in Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines in the face of China’s actions in the Spratly Islands chain, was quickly condemned by Beijing as a “deliberate provocation.”
The US plans to send more warships and military aircraft near China’s man-made islands to test Beijing’s territorial claims, military officials say.
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