The Profitable Japanese Small Arms Industry

Japan Security Watch has noted that the Japanese government is saying exorbitant prices for its small arms compared to what the US Government and US consumers pay.

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A Japanese Self Defense Force SIG 220.

They buy SIG 220 pistols for almost $1,992 each. An M9 Pistol costs the DoD less than $500 including spare parts. The National Park Service valued the SIG P220 they were given by other federal agencies at around $450 each.

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The Japanese government buys Type 89 rifles for $2796 each. The more modern M4 Carbine costs theUS government $673 each.

Machine guns, sniper rifles and mortars are also said to be purchased for exorbitant prices, but these are hard to evaluate. I would expect a heavy machine gun to be purchased with a number of accessories and a lot of expensive spare parts. Sniper rifles are often sold as complete systems (scopes, night vision, suppressors, rails, mounts, bipods, cases etc.). When heavy weapons are purchased, a supply of ordnance is often purchased at the same time and these numbers could have been listed together in the budget.