Japan 'Industry Day' Highlights Global Defense Partnerships

Earlier this year, a high-level defense event simply dubbed 'Industry Day' was held in Japan, an event aimed at strengthening the supply chain to the Japanese Self-Defense Forces equipment and strengthening Asia-Pacific Security and the Defense Industries.

The event was significant in that the Japanese government has signaled its intention to increase defense spending, particularly with heightened tensions in the region from both China and North Korea. Also significant was the inclusion of U.S. government and industry personnel at the event, highlighting the importance of this strong and growing partnership globally, and connecting the Japanese Defense Industry capabilities with U.S. military and U.S. industry. In short, Japan's vibrant and growing maritime equipment sector is exploring the possibility of supplying Japanese equipment for this big and growing market, and 26 companies were on hand with displays at 'Industry Day' to showcase their technology.

"The world has entered an era of new instruments: aggression in Ukraine, provocations by China, missile practice by North Korea, and so on," said INO Toshiro, Vice Minisiter of Defense, Japan. "Japan will enhance its defense industrial base and technological development base on land, sea, and air. We want to make the Japan-U.S. alliance a deeper and better relationship."

U.S. representation at the event was diverse, and included Rahm Emanuel, United States Ambassador to Japan, and John M. Tenaglia, who serves as the Principal Director, Defense Pricing and Contracting (DPC) within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

Highlighting the importance of global cooperation among allies to address existing an potential threats, Tenaglia gave an overview of the 'Reciprocal Defense Procurement (RDP) Agreement' in helping Japanese manufacturers to navigate the U.S. DoD procurement landscape. "The most significant aspect of RDP is the fact that we 'hold neutral' the domestic preference laws each of our countries might have. The fact that we have this agreement allow us to waive the 'Buy American' act and other domestic restrictions in our procurement."

In addition to hardware, cyber security both internally and among partners is a priority, as "Japan's defense industry is also under attack from Russia and other countries," according to Mr. Matsumoto, Director, Equipment Policy Division, Defense Equipment Administration. "We intend to bring it [cyber security] in line with U.S. security standards."

Image courtesy JSMEA