Australia and Japan stepped up defence-related engagements in late May, on the back of both nations’ pledges to deepen defence ties during a defence minister bilateral meeting on 18 April.
At the forefront of the burgeoning defence ties has been a spate of bilateral and multilateral meetings involving both nations’ defence ministers, diplomats and high ranking defence officials.
On 21 May, Australia’s Deputy Chief of the Army, Major General Chris Smith, met Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) Chief of Staff Masayoshi at JGSDF Camp Ichigaya in Tokyo, with both sides agreeing to increase engagement, strategic cooperation and joint training.
This was followed by Japan’s Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Defense Yohei Wakabayashi attending a reception at Australia’s embassy in Tokyo on 27 May, during which he discussed increased bilateral cooperation in areas including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
On 29 May, Japan’s Director General C4 Systems Department Major General Akitsugu Kimura met Australia’s Head of Cyber Operations and Strategic J6 Warren Gould in Canberra to discuss deepening C4 (Command, Control, Communications and Computers/Cyber) integration, including enhancing bilateral secure communications and aligning information and communications technology (ICT) priorities.
The next day Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles met Japan’s Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and New Zealand Defence Minister Chris Penk at the sidelines of the Shangri La Dialogue in what was the three nation’s first trilateral defence chief meeting.
The three ministers, who were joined by military officials and defence industry representatives, welcomed Japan’s increased participation in joint exercises, and discussed prospects for increased industry cooperation - including in relation to New Zealand’s potential acquisition of Japan’s Mogami multi-purpose stealth frigates.
Mid-late May also saw a slew of multilateral meetings/events attended by high-ranking military officials from both countries, including the US-hosted 2026 Land Forces Pacific (LANPAC) Symposium (12-14 May) and Land Forces Dialogue (LFD) (15 May), as well as the Indian Ocean Defence and Security (IODS) Conference and Exhibition (Perth, 26-28 May).
Joint exercises involving Australian and Japanese forces also picked up in late May.
On 21 May, an Australian P-8A maritime patrol aircraft and a KC-30A multi-role tanker transport participated in joint exercises with US and Japanese aircraft near Okinawa’s main island.
An Australian P-8A also participated in training exercises with US and Japanese naval forces off the coast of Japan’s Kanto region on 26 May.
Japan tripled its contribution to the annual Exercise Southern Jackaroo – an exercise designed to strengthen interoperability between Australian, US and Japanese ground forces – which is hosted in Townsville from 29 May to early July.
May also featured additional developments in Australia-Japan defence industry cooperation.
On 28 May, Japanese multinational ICT firm Fujitsu’s CEO Takahito Tokita announced plans for the company to expand its defence business in Australia, singling out the company’s contributions to Australia’s Department of Defence in areas including weapons/ammunition inventory management and pharmaceutical management system (PMS).
There has also been growing speculation in Japan that Australian defence firm DefendTex has won the bid to provide Japan’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) Small Attack Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) - Type I, after an MoD press release announcing the procurement displayed an image of what appears to be a DefendTex Drone40 multi-modal UAV.
Speculation began prior to the announcement in February after the Drone40 was identified as the bid winner by former Greens Japan candidate and Network Against Japan Arms Trade (NAJAT) representative Koji Sugihara.