Veteran airline pilots in Japan have a concern they never had before -- that the planes they fly may come under terrorist or war-related attack due to new responsibilities the government might place on them.

"I'm worried that a Japanese commercial airliner could be attacked overseas while carrying something (war-related at the government's request)," Hiroya Yamaguchi, a captain with Japan Airlines Co., told Kyodo News.

The government is trying to gain Diet passage of a law this year that would require airlines to lend assistance in the event the nation comes under attack or in line with other emergency contingencies.