The Japanese Ministry of Defense announced to the press on May 18, 2020, that it adopted Howa's newest modular 5.56 NATO rifle as the Type 20 rifle 「 20式5.56mm小 and a version of the HK VP9 as the 「９ｍｍ拳銃ＳＦＰ９」.
Developed by Towa Kogyo, the Howa platform beat out designs tested by the JGSDF since 2014 to include the H&K G36, H&K HK416, Steyr AUG, SIG516, SIG716, and FN SCAR.
According to the defense budget for 2020, 3,283 units of the Howa Type 20 were purchased for 900 million yen in the first procurement. The life cycle cost of procuring 150,000 units is estimated to be 43.9 billion yen.
