US and Japan Agree to Joint Production of Advanced Air-to-Air Missiles in Japan

Cebu: The United States and Japan have agreed to establish a facility in Japan for the joint production of advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi announced late Wednesday. The move is the latest step by the two allies, which have repeatedly voiced concern over China’s growing assertiveness in Asia.

Koizumi made the announcement at a news conference in Cebu, a province in the central Philippines, after meeting U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the sidelines of the annual gathering of Southeast Asian defense ministers and their major Asian and Western counterparts. The meetings are intended to prevent a major regional conflict and strengthen defense cooperation, although the United States, China and their respective allies have often exchanged criticism on the sidelines.

According to Koizumi, the missiles to be produced under the joint initiative, named “Operation Supercharge,” are “essential for the F-35.” He did not provide further details of the agreement. The U.S.-made F-35, regarded as one of the world’s most advanced fighter aircraft, is also operated by the Japanese military.

Describing his meeting with Hegseth, Koizumi said the two sides “shared a sense of crisis … regarding the increasingly severe regional situation” and agreed to strengthen the deterrence and response capabilities of the Japan-U.S. alliance “with greater speed and intensity than ever before.”

“We reaffirmed the importance of a free and open international order based on the rule of law, which rejects any attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo through the use of force, coercion or other means,” he said, adding that the discussions were not aimed at any particular country.

In a separate meeting on Wednesday with ASEAN defense ministers, chaired by Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., Hegseth reaffirmed the Trump administration’s commitment to deterring aggression in the region. Like Koizumi, he did not refer to China by name.

“The approach we’re taking, we describe as strong, quiet and clear,” Hegseth told the ministers. “Strong enough to deter coercion and aggression, quiet enough to avoid needless escalation or public theatrics to let our actions speak for themselves.” He said the message was clear enough that “our friends, our partners and potential adversaries understand precisely where the United States stands and that we will defend our interests and the interests of our allies and partners.”

Hegseth has assured the Philippines, Washington’s oldest treaty ally in Asia, that the administration will build strong deterrence against China’s increasingly aggressive conduct in the South China Sea. Beijing claims nearly the entire waterway, which serves as a vital route for global trade.

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said Australian forces, together with allies including the United States, would continue to uphold the rule of law in the face of China’s increasing assertiveness. Last year, Australia lodged a protest after a Chinese J-16 fighter released flares and flew within 30 meters (100 feet) of an Australian P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft over the disputed waters.

“That doesn’t deter us from doing what we need to do and that’s essentially asserting the rules-based order here in the end of the Pacific,” Marles said in Cebu on Wednesday. “Freedom of navigation on the high seas is profoundly important for Australia.”

ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, as well as Taiwan, also hold overlapping claims in the South China Sea. Tensions have escalated in particular between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and naval vessels around disputed shoals and surrounding waters. Washington has stated that it is obligated to defend the Philippines if Filipino forces, vessels or aircraft come under armed attack, including in the South China Sea.

Separately, China and Japan remain locked in a dispute over a group of small Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea, with each side frequently accusing the other of violating its maritime territory.