Washington and Tokyo agree to produce AMRAAM missiles in Japan
Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric previously said it was in talks with Raytheon to explore local assembly of the American air-to-air missile.
The US and Japan have reached an agreement to produce a key air-to-air missile in Japan.
Speaking at a gathering of Asia-Pacific defence chiefs in the Philippines on 28 October, Japanese defence minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Tokyo and Washington will establish a final assembly and inspection facility in Japan for Raytheon’s AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile).
Koizumi had proposed the idea in May at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, although he says localised missile production has been a topic of discussion for many years.
“This is a groundbreaking agreement that will not only ensure the acquisition of equipment needed by both Japan and the United States, but will also strengthen Japan’s defence industry base,” Koizumi says. “We will elevate the Japan-US alliance to even greater heights.”
The defence minister described the AMRAAM as “essential” for Japan’s fleet of American-designed Lockheed Martin F-35A/B stealth fighters. Japan is home to one of only three F-35 assembly lines in the world, with the others in Texas and Italy.
Tokyo’s F-35 programme covers 105 conventional take-off and landing F-35As and a smaller contingent of 42 short take-off and vertical landing F-35Bs. Currently, 59 jets from that total order are in service with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, according to fleets data from aviation analytics company Cirium.
Deepening cooperation
The AMRAAM deal is part of what Tokyo calls ‘Operation Surcharge’ – a bilateral effort to increase cooperation and technology sharing between Japan and the US. In addition to local AMRAAM production, Koizumi revealed that the governments agreed to increase production of the SM-3 Block IIA ballistic missile interceptor, which is a joint product of Raytheon and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI).
Although neither Tokyo nor Washington named a local partner, Mitsubishi Electric is likely to be the company producing AMRAAMs in Japan. In April, Mitsubishi Electric, which is a separate entity from MHI, revealed it was in talks with Raytheon to explore co-production of the AIM-120 missile.
US defence chief Pete Hegseth also attended the gathering in the Philippines. Neither his formal remarks nor the official Pentagon readout of his meeting with Koizumi addressed the missile agreements.
However, the readout notes that Hegseth welcomes Japan’s efforts to strengthen its defence industrial capacity and says both leaders “committed to continue close coordination on critical munitions production”.
In his remarks, Hegseth said Washington wants Pacific allies and partners to be “self-reliant nations – nations capable of defending their own sovereignty and contributing to the favourable balance of power that benefits us all”.
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