The fifth most expensive army in the world is one many people don’t even realize exists. Japan has a reputation for being a pacifist and even unarmed country because its post-World War II constitution technically forbids it from having a military.

The reputation is wrong. In addition to possessing its own powerful armed forces, Tokyo is finally becoming an arms exporter … seven decades after the constitution discouraged but did not outright ban weapons sales.

Instead of an official military, Japan has what it calls “self defense forces”—an army, navy and air force trained and equipped for defense.

But “defense” is a fig leaf. In reality, Japan has one of the largest and most powerful—albeit mostly unproven—militaries in the world, with more ships than the French navy, an army larger than Germany’s and more jet fighters than the British Royal Air Force.

Japan buys a mix of imports and locally made weapons for its Self Defense Forces. Japanese industry produces world-class destroyers and submarines and some of the best armored vehicles in the world, in addition to other high-tech military hardware.

The Air Self Defense Forces have even ditched the standard American AIM-120 air-to-air missile in favor of the locally built AAM-4B, one of only two missiles in the world with a built-in electronic array homing radar, which boosts range and lethality.

But for all its industrial prowess, for nearly 70 years Tokyo hasn’t exported a single tank, ship, plane or other major weapon system.

That’s changing. Today Japan is taking steps to join the global community of high-tech arms merchants that includes the United States, Russia, China, Germany, France and a dozen other advanced nations.