The meeting in Canberra tomorrow between the defence ministers of Australia and Japan, Richard Marles and Shinjiro Koizumi, is an opportunity to set bilateral priorities for defence industry cooperation beyond Australia’s acquisition of Upgraded Mogami-class frigates.
The Mogami project shows how quickly progress can be made. On 5 August 2025, Marles said Japan’s Upgraded Mogami class had been chosen for Australia’s next frigate program. Only eight months later, on 18 April, Koizumi and Marles signed the Mogami memorandum in Melbourne aboard the JS Kumano, a ship of the original Mogami design in service with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. The memorandum committed both countries to delivering the first three frigates in record time, with the first arriving in 2029. The Australian government and Japanese companies including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries signed the contract on the same day. Such programs usually move much more slowly. It is a testament to the hard work and shared focus of ministers, officials and businesspeople in both countries that this was achieved so quickly.
Now is the time for Australia and Japan to go beyond Mogami and push into other fields. The increasingly challenging security environment surrounding both countries, combined with US constraints in supplying weapons to other countries due to the wars in Ukraine and the Persian Gulf, necessitates accelerated strategic defence industry cooperation between Japan and Australia. They operate in the same strategic environment, use the same US system of weaponry and are natural partners that can complement each other. Moreover, cooperation in the defence industry of both countries holds significant strategic importance, contributing to regional security and enhanced deterrence.
The opportunities are expansive, but these seven priorities for defence industry cooperation between Japan and Australia in strategic fields essential for modern warfare should be on the agenda for the defence ministers’ meeting.
First, Japan’s IHI rocket motors and Kawasaki Heavy Industries’ KJ-series of small jet engines could support Australia’s domestic production of drones and long-range missiles under Australia’s Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance program.
Second, there’s an opportunity for Australia to become a customer of the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), which Japan, Britain and Italy are undertaking to develop and build a sixth-generation fighter. Australian Defence officials may already be watching it closely. Canada became a formal GCAP observer nation in July.
Third is the opportunity for collaboration on AI, which is already indispensable in modern warfare. Japanese AI companies are at the cutting edge of this rapidly developing field. The CEO of Japanese company Sakana AI joined counterparts from leading US companies, such as Anthropic, at a roundtable about the safe adoption of AI at the G7 summit in June, alongside Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and other leaders. Australia is an excellent partner for Japan on AI because of its geography, resources and attractiveness to skilled workers.
Fourth, innovative Australian companies have lessons to teach Japan’s expanding defence drone and counter-drone industries. In April, Marles and Koizumi referred to a new framework for Japan to work with Australia on collaborative combat aircraft activities involving the MQ-28 Ghost Bat, being developed by Boeing and the Royal Australian Air Force. Low-cost loitering munitions of Innovaero and counter-drone systems of many other Australian companies are also of great interest to Japan.
Fifth, tech startups spun out of Australia’s world-class universities could contribute to Japan’s defence capabilities, as already demonstrated by dual-use technologies in areas such as quantum technology. Encouragingly, a July agreement signed in Sydney by the Australian and Japanese ministers covering science, Tim Ayres and Kimi Onoda, was promptly followed by an agreement to cooperate on quantum technologies between Fujitsu and Australia’s Monash University and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
Sixth, Japan is seeking to strengthen its munitions supply chain, so it should be interested in the two types of ownership models for munitions production that Australia is developing – the government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) system for ammunition production that’s in progress with Thales and Nioa, and the company-owned, company-operated (COCO) Rheinmetall Nioa Munitions joint venture for artillery shells.
Seventh is supply-chain security. The defence industries of both countries need reliable sources of raw materials and hi-tech components, which the other can help supply. Australia is a major supplier of critical minerals that Japanese defence companies could use in making equipment for both countries.
These areas of capability are founded on bilateral strategic alignment, or ‘strategic depth’, as prime ministers Anthony Albanese and Takaichi said in their leaders’ statement in May. These priorities are consistent with the vision outlined in the summit then, where the two prime ministers pledged to further deepen cooperation between the defence industries through linkage in industry and supply chains, technology transfer, and sharing expertise, while using Australia’s frigate program as a catalyst for cooperation.
Publicly identifying some or all of these areas as collaboration priorities would inform, galvanise and incentivise defence industry. To facilitate collaboration, both nations should establish fast-track systems to further facilitate the sharing of classified information by defence industries in both countries.
This meeting of defence ministers, and what follows in the months and years ahead, is the opportunity to implement the leaders’ declaration in the face of common threats and shared opportunities. To do so, the governments of Japan and Australia should leverage their respective defence industries and accelerate bilateral defence industry strategic cooperation beyond Mogami.
