The U.S. government is seeking an accord with Japan by the end of this month on revising a bilateral agreement on mutual provision of military goods and services, according to sources.
Under the defense cooperation guidelines revised in April, Japan and the United States have confirmed their intention to "negotiate expeditiously" a new Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) to "operationalize the mutual logistics cooperation."
In calling for an early conclusion of talks on the new agreement, Washington is expecting the security bills to expand the overseas role of the Self-Defense Forces to pass soon.