U.S. and Japanese officials have held their first talks under a new framework to deepen defense-industrial collaboration, taking the security relationship to new heights as the allies partner in repairing U.S. warships and aircraft in Japan and jointly developing and producing advanced weapons.
The two days of talks that ended Monday marked the inaugural meeting of the Defense Industrial Cooperation, Acquisition and Sustainment (DICAS) forum, a newly established mechanism to identify areas for closer industrial cooperation following Tokyo’s revision of its strict defense export guidelines in March.
A key focus of DICAS — an evolutionary reorganization of the U.S.-Japan Systems and Technology Forum — will be integrating the allies’ defense-industrial bases to facilitate co-development and co-production of missiles and other military assets.