Japan and NATO to launch defense-industrial talks, top envoy says

Japan Times

5 days ago

Japan and NATO plan to launch a defense equipment and industrial dialogue, Tokyo's first dedicated ambassador to the political and military alliance has said, as the increasingly close partners seek to boost interoperability and develop 'more robust' defense supply chains.
The talks, to be held at NATO headquarters in Brussels in the near future, aim to explore new areas of cooperation and facilitate coordination between the Japanese and European defense and security industries, Ambassador Osamu Izawa told The Japan Times in a recent exclusive interview.
'The meetings will focus on sharing information about future technology and equipment needs between Japan and NATO,' Izawa said, noting that it will initially only involve government officials from each side as the partners study each other's defense markets and industrial and technological capabilities while looking for areas of common interest.
'We need information and they need information," Izawa said. 'We need to know in which direction NATO forces are headed so that we can facilitate coordination and help link companies from both sides.'
As a close partner of the 32-member alliance, Japan has occasionally been invited to NATO defense-industrial meetings. However, Izawa made it clear that the new initiative will be different.
'We are now going to set up an independent, bilateral dialogue to discuss these issues, which is very important step from our point of view,' he said, particularly as European NATO members have shown great interest in a number of Japanese dual-use technologies in areas such as space, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum encryption, drones and semiconductors.
Only Japan's bigger, traditional companies have contact with NATO, he said, noting that startups wouldn't normally have any experience in dealing with the Western alliance.
'Through this dialogue, and our other activities in NATO, we are then going to provide nonclassified information to Japanese companies so that they determine if and how they can work together with their NATO counterparts.'
Japanese Ambassador to NATO Osamu Izawa (left) meets with Rutte at NATO headquarters in Brussels. |
NATO
The push comes after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte got a first glimpse into Japan's capabilities in April, when he visited Mitsubishi Electric's satellite production facility in Kanagawa Prefecture and held talks at the trade ministry with representatives of eight Japanese startups specializing in dual-use tech.
Japan already has one of the closest relationships with NATO among nonmember partner states.
Both sides have described efforts toward standardization and greater industrial tie-ups as a 'shared priority,' with Rutte in April calling on both NATO members and partners alike to industrially 'outpace and outproduce' rivals such as Russia and China.
NATO experts such as Gorana Grgic, a senior researcher in Euro-Atlantic security at ETH Zurich's Center for Security Studies, say the decision to inaugurate a dedicated defense‑industry dialogue is an important step in a conversation that has been underway for some time now.
This initiative, she noted, directly implements the NATO Industrial Capacity Expansion Pledge from the 2024 Washington Summit, which called for enhancing defense-industrial cooperation 'through focused dialogue with engaged partners, including ... Japan.'
Support for Ukraine's defense against Russia's ongoing invasion has underscored the importance of supply‑chain resilience and rapid technological diffusion.
Against this backdrop, European and North American firms would ideally gain access to the Japanese market through joint production or similar moves, while both established and startup Japanese companies would similarly benefit by receiving deeper insight into NATO's strategic trajectory and capability requirements, Grgic said.
'Together, if successful, these exchanges should bolster interoperability, reduce unit costs and reinforce a cross‑regional industrial network that underpins collective deterrence,' she added, pointing to the Global Combat Air Program as an existing example of cross‑regional defense‑industrial cooperation.
The project, which links two NATO member states — the United Kingdom and Italy — with Japan to develop a next-generation fighter aircraft that should enter service by 2035, provides 'a compelling proof of concept for this type of initiative,' she said.
The defense-industrial dialogue will follow a critical NATO leaders' summit held last month in The Hague that saw the alliance agree to ramp up defense-related spending to a total of 5% of gross domestic product by 2035, with 3.5% dedicated to core needs such as defense equipment and 1.5% to other investments such as defense-related infrastructure.
Rutte speaks at a joint press briefing after meeting with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo in April. |
Pool / via REUTERS
Reaching the deal, which allows for direct contributions toward Ukraine's military and arms industry to be included in the allies' defense spending calculations, was seen by many as crucial for keeping the United States engaged in NATO while enabling European members to modernize their armed forces and improve their military capabilities.
At the same time, experts have argued that the agreement could have knock-on effects for Japan and other U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific, which Washington has said must also meet a new 'global standard' of spending 5% of GDP on defense.
Japan's NATO envoy also commented on last month's alliance summit, describing the gathering as a 'huge success.' Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and the leaders from two of NATO's other Indo-Pacific partner countries — Australia and South Korea — skipped the event, prompting concerns that the alliance's strong focus on the region could be waning.
'The NATO defense spending agreement means not only that Europe will be better prepared to deter Russian aggression, but also that it will become stronger, and a strong Europe is in Japan's interest,' Izawa said, noting that NATO members also reaffirmed that the European and Indo-Pacific security environments are 'inseparable.'
The growing interconnectedness, Izawa added, was again highlighted in Tokyo's deepening contributions to Kyiv, including Japan's willingness to participate in the NATO Security Assistance and Training Organization for Ukraine (NSATU) — a Germany-headquartered command launched last summer to coordinate planning and arrange the delivery of security assistance to the war-torn country.
'Joining NSATU will be very important, not only to work more closely together with NATO but also to deepen two-way communications related to Ukraine.'