Japan's military buildup to propel Kawasaki Heavy's defence sales above forecast

The company, which builds submarines, missile engines, military transport aircraft and helicopters, has predicted a jump in annual defence unit sales to 500 billion-700 billion yen ($3.2 billion-$4.5 billion) by March 2031 from about 240 billion yen in 2023.

"Based on current conditions, we think 700 billion yen is largely achievable, and there is also a possibility of upside beyond that," Hashimoto said.

(Reporting by Tim Kelly and Nobuhiro Kubo; Editing by Sumana Nandy)