U.S. looks to Japan for help boosting weapons production

William LaPlante, the U.S. undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, and Masaki Fukasawa, commissioner of Japan's Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency shake hands during the inaugural Defense Industrial Cooperation, Acquisition and Sustainment forum meeting Sunday at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo. | DEFENSE MINISTRY Handout

by GABRIEL DOMINGUEZ
June 10, 2024

U.S. and Japanese officials have held their first consultations to deepen defense industry collaboration as the allies take security ties to new heights, aiming for partnerships in areas such as U.S. warship and aircraft repairs in Japan as well as in the joint development and production of advanced weapons.

The two days of talks that ended Monday marked the inaugural meeting of the Defense Industrial Cooperation, Acquisition and Sustainment (DICAS) forum, a newly established mechanism designed to identify areas for closer industrial cooperation following Tokyo’s revision of Japan’s strict defense export guidelines in March.

A key focus of DICAS — an evolutionary reorganization of the U.S.-Japan Systems and Technology Forum — is how the allies’ defense-industrial bases can be integrated to open up the co-development and co-production of missiles and other military assets.