Japan and U.S. Agree on AMRAAM Assembly Facility

Japan and the United States have agreed to establish a facility in Japan for the final assembly and inspection of AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said after meeting U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Cebu, the Philippines. The missiles are used by F-35 fighter jets operated by both countries. Koizumi announced the agreement on October 28 during meetings of Southeast Asian defense ministers. He said it would support equipment acquisition for both countries and strengthen Japan’s defense industrial base. The effort is part of Operation Supercharge, a bilateral initiative to accelerate cooperation on missile production. The governments also agreed to share technical information to expand production of the SM-3 Block IIA, a ship-launched interceptor designed to destroy ballistic missiles in space, Koizumi said. The announcement gave no new production target or schedule for that work. Japan and the United States had separately agreed in March to quadruple SM-3 Block IIA production in Japan, according to reports on the earlier arrangement. Koizumi did not identify a Japanese industrial partner or facility location, or provide a construction...