Japan is interested in joining a NATO missile-building consortium that would give Tokyo its first taste of a multinational defense project, a move the U.S. Navy is encouraging because it could pave the way for Japan to lead similar partnerships in Asia, sources said.

The 12-country North Atlantic Treaty Organization consortium oversees development and shares the costs of the SeaSparrow missile, an advanced ship-borne weapon designed to destroy anti-ship sea-skimming missiles and attack aircraft. The missile is made by U.S. weapons firms Raytheon and General Dynamics.

In May, Maritime Self-Defense Force officers traveled to a NATO meeting in The Hague to learn more about the consortium, the MSDF and a U.S. source familiar with the trip told Reuters.