New Rifle and Handgun for the Japanese Self Defence Forces

On December 6, 2019, the Japanese Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced adoption of the new rifle and the handgun for the Self Defence Forces.

The new rifle is the replacement of the current 5.56mm Howa Type 89 rifle. The MoD selected and purchased the 3 candidates’ samples, Howa Machinery’s HOWA 5.56, FN Herstal’s SCAR-L and Heckler & Koch’s HK416 by the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 budget.

The MoD decided to choose HOWA 5.56. The Staff Office of Ground Self-Defence asked 3283 rifles with JPY1 billion for procurement and JPY 100 million for the initial cost for FY 2020 budget.

The new handgun is the replacement of the current 9mm pistol (local made SIG 220 by MinebeaMitsumi). The MoD selected and purchased the 3 candidates’ samples, Heckler & Koch’s SFP9, Beretta’s APX and Glock’s Glock 17 by the FY 2018 budget.

The MoD decided to choose SFP9 and the Staff Office of Ground Self-Defence asked for 323 handguns with JPY30 million for FY 2020 budget.

Shinichi Kiyotani