The Defense Agency said Tuesday it will bar Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. from bidding on agency contracts for two weeks starting Wednesday in connection with defects found in a prototype missile system.
The agency said in August that a total of 12 defects, including design problems, were found during tests of a surface-to-ship missile system that MHI developed for the agency.
The defects were detected in April during tests to check the SSM-1 Kai's ability to prevent a hostile party from pinpointing the location of a missile launch, according to the agency. MHI did not report the defects.
The agency said that MHI's Nagoya Guidance and Propulsion Systems Works was responsible for the defects because it failed to use the necessary load in the strength test for the system.
Japan is scheduled to deploy the SSM-1 Kai system in fiscal 2008. Its prototypes are being produced in four phases, and the agency has signed about 1.23 billion yen in related contracts since fiscal 2001.