Japan Interested in Joining NATO Missile Consortium

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Tim Kelly and Nobuhiro Kubo, Exclusive: Japan Interested in Joining NATO Missile Consortium. Reuters, July 10, 2015.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2 ... USKCN0PJ2RV20150709

Quote:

(a) "The 12-country NATO consortium oversees development and shares the costs of the SeaSparrow missile, an advanced ship-borne weapon designed to destroy anti-ship sea-skimming missiles and attack aircraft. The missile is made by US weapons firms Raytheon and General Dynamics. * * * The consortium, established in 1968 by four countries including the United States, is set to develop an upgraded version of the SeaSparrow in the coming years.

(b) "Japan's navy already uses the SeaSparrow missile, which is assembled locally by Mitsubishi Electric under a co-production agreement with NATO and the US manufacturers.

(c) "The US Navy's desire to see Japan in the consortium comes after a proposal for Mitsubishi Heavy to join Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 stealth fighter program fizzled out last year.

"Japanese defense bureaucrats had hoped working on the F-35 as a subcontractor to rear fuselage maker BAE Systems of Britain  would have given Mitsubishi Heavy exposure to global arms markets.

"But it proved impossible for Mitsubishi Heavy to compete on pricing of components given the advantage enjoyed by contractors in the initial nine countries due to their governments' funding of specialized tooling for the program.

Note:
(a) RIM-7 Sea Sparrow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIM-7_Sea_Sparrow
(In service 1976- )
(i) Rim
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rim
(RIM may stand for "The US Military designation for a ship-launched, intercept guided missile; examples include RIM-66 Standard missile[,] RIM-7 Sea Sparrow")
(ii) United States Department of Defense aerospace vehicle designation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un ... vehicle_designation
(section 3.1 Rocket/missile launch environment: R "Ship. The missile is launched from a ship or barge" /
section 3.2 Rocket/missile mission symbol: I "Intercept" /
section 3.3 Vehicle type symbol: M "Missile. Guided missiles are unmanned vehicles flying a path controlled by a guidance system")

(b) " 'Japan recognizes that it should join these international groups to help amortize purchases and make their industry more competitive,' said a US executive who works closely with the Japanese government and industry."

amortize (vt; from Vulgar Latin *admortire to kill, from Latin ad- + mort-, mors death): “to gradually reduce or write off the cost or value of (as an asset) <amortize goodwill> <amortize machinery>”
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amortize

In the context of this Reuters report, Japan wants to join to help reduce the cost of purchases of weapons (whose production cost, being insular (figuratively), is very high in Japan).