The Self-Defense Forces should be allowed to use heavy firearms to protect troops participating in any U.S.-led antiterrorism operation, the LDP's top policymaker said Thursday.
"If they use tanks, we will have no choice but to use heavy firearms such as bazookas," said Taro Aso, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Policy Research Council, speaking at a lecture in Tokyo.
The government is planning to enact new legislation to enable Japan to deploy the SDF overseas and to revise the current SDF law to allow the forces to protect all U.S. military facilities in Japan.