On March 15, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner, Komeito, agreed to relax the country’s strict defense export rules, paving the way for Tokyo to allow the international sale of the next-generation fighter jets being co-developed with the United Kingdom and Italy. In the current Japanese Diet, the LDP-led coalition government … Read more
To “achieve the most effective coordination” on co-developing next-generation fighters, Japan, Britain, and Italy have agreed to establish a new international body to expedite and oversee the process, based on a treaty signed by their respective defense ministers on December 14, 2023. The trilateral scheme aims to enhance the “national security” and “international influence” of … Read more
Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, have agreed on a series of measures to further deepen their bilateral defense cooperation through port calls by naval vessels, including an aircraft carrier strike group, as well as the joint development of a next-generation fighter jet. Highlighting the growing convergence between the two … Read more
On December 14 in Tokyo, the defense ministers of Japan, the United Kingdom, and Italy signed an epoch-making international treaty on the establishment of a joint organization to develop their new sixth-generation fighter jet. In a joint leaders’ statement in December 2022, the three countries announced their intention to jointly pursue development of a next-generation … Read more
The foreign and defense ministers of Japan and the United Kingdom have agreed on a series of measures to further deepen their bilateral defense cooperation through joint exercises and a project to jointly develop a next-generation fighter jet. The fifth Japan-U.K. Foreign and Defense Ministerial Meeting, informally known as “two-plus-two” talks, took place on November … Read more
Tokyo Report | Security | East Asia The European nation forms an increasingly important part of Japan’s goal of consolidating its security cooperation with like-minded Western nations. Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio meets with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome, Italy, Jan. 10, 2023. Credit: PM’s Office of Japan Advertisement In May, Italy’s Chief of Defense Adm. Giuseppe … Read more