Tokyo and Canberra will take defense cooperation and industry tie-ups to fresh highs over the next 18-to-24 months, a senior Australian defense official told The Japan Times in a recent interview, as the strategic partners grow increasingly concerned about the fraught international security environment.
“We need to grow our cooperation not just directly in the military-to-military domain, but also in the industrial and technological fields,” said Hugh Jeffrey, the Department of Defence’s deputy secretary for strategy, policy and industry.
“Ultimately, if we are going to be more effective, it's not just about how our operators work together, but also about how to deliver a more advanced and effective capability to make sure that our militaries are fit for purpose in this tougher strategic environment,” he said during a visit to Tokyo.
The next 18 to 24 months will see the quasi-allies not only test and share new technologies and capabilities, including during more frequent and complex exercises, he said it will also see increased military deployments to each other’s territories. That move will be facilitated by a visiting-forces pact — formally known as a Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) — that entered into force in August last year.
This comes as the two sides announced in September that they are exploring ways for Japan’s Amphibious Rapid Deployment to participate in the U.S. Marines rotations that take place in the northern Australian city of Darwin every year. It also follows the Ground Self-Defense Force’s first-ever test-firing of its Type-12 anti-ship missile in Australia last year as well as mutual visits by the countries’ F-35 fighter aircraft.
While Tokyo and Canberra’s intent is to grow interactions, Jeffrey said the dates for these joint activities have yet to be fixed.
“We're going to do it in a manner that's natural and flexible, so I don't anticipate there will be a set schedule like what we have with, say, the Americans. It’s rather about how we can build these deployments into our yearly activities going forward,” he said.
“The challenge now is really just to use the RAA,” Jeffrey added, calling the use of the pact a chance to “build out its sinews.”
Driving the unprecedented pace in security cooperation is Tokyo and Canberra’s "almost universal alignment” on strategic matters, he said, emphasizing that Australia’s defense relationship with Japan is now “the closest ... we have with any other country except the United States.”
Indeed, the partners are not only boosting interoperability, but also cooperating on defense-research projects and putting consulting mechanisms in place to handle contingencies while doubling down on their alliance with Washington and other regional partnerships.
The two sides have also been clear about their shared concerns over Beijing and Pyongyang’s growing assertiveness and military capabilities.
But arguably their greatest strategic alignment has been on the need to maintain a favorable balance of power to deter any unilateral changes by force. Their aim is to do this not only bilaterally but also multilaterally through groupings like “the Quad,” and in close coordination with the U.S.
This comes as Canberra has adopted a more assertive defense posture in recent years, one that is no longer confined to its national borders. The posture includes prioritizing new technologies as well as maritime and long-range strike capabilities to prepare to combat threats faster, further away and alongside partners.
These include Japan, which featured prominently in Canberra’s inaugural National Defence Strategy published in April. Among other things, the document calls for more joint exercises as well as greater defense-industrial collaboration, including in key areas such as integrated air and missile defense, counterstrike and undersea warfare.
To facilitate this, the partners have recently signed a number of agreements, including an undersea warfare research pact focusing on robotic and autonomous systems as well as a technology and engineering deal, all the while deepening collaboration in the fields of space, cyber, information-sharing and regional capacity-building.
But arguably some of the greatest defense tech opportunities will arise from Japan’s participation in selected projects within the advanced capabilities program, or Pillar II, of Australia’s AUKUS partnership with the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
Last September the three partners identified maritime autonomous systems as an initial field Japan could collaborate in. Efforts to make this happen appear to be under way.
Jeffrey said Tokyo dispatched a multidisciplinary team to Australia’s HMAS Creswell naval base at Jervis Bay earlier this month to observe the three-weeklong Autonomous Warrior 24 exercise. Part of the Maritime Big Play initiative under Pillar II, the drills tested the compatibility of the three partners' cutting-edge autonomous maritime technology.
“What we were doing was testing systems that, for instance, can combine an Australian autonomous vehicle with a U.S. payload and a British sensor, thus allowing our allies and partners to be force multipliers,” he said. “We're integrating our autonomous systems in a way that it's very rare for any three countries to do, and I'm not aware of any three countries doing it at this level of classification and leading edge of technology.”
Jeffrey noted that Japan has “enormous assets” and contributions to make in terms of its own technology, industrial base and financial resources. So it would make “good sense” for the partners to think about how to include Japan in some AUKUS projects it is interested in and “where it has value-add to offer.”
No timeline has yet to be provided, though, on when Japan or the other three countries under consideration — Canada, New Zealand and South Korea — would join Pillar II projects.
The reason for this, Jeffrey said, is that the process requires a gradual approach.
“It is not as simple as turning a switch on and saying, we're going to include that country. There are a whole range of laws, treaties, regulations, information-sharing and counterintelligence agreements that need to be in place,” he said.
Another opportunity to deepen industrial collaboration could potentially arise from the Royal Australian Navy’s program to acquire general-purpose frigates to replace its aging Anzac-class warships.
Australia is currently examining bids put forward by manufacturers from four countries, including Japan, which is proposing an Australianized version of its in-service Mogami-class frigates.
“We are delighted that Japan is participating as one of the four countries in that acquisition, and Defence expects to provide advice to the government before the end of the year on the outcomes of the initial selection process,” Jeffrey said.
Besides being a highly capable warship, experts say another important factor that could tilt the balance in favor of the Mogami class is Canberra’s willingness to forge closer military and defense-industrial ties with Tokyo.
“Picking a winner for this contest will be difficult because the bidders have different strengths,” said Kym Bergmann, editor of the Asia Pacific Defence Reporter and Defence Review Asia magazines.
He believes Japan’s chances at this stage are 25% — the same as the others. But, if Australia sees the program as a chance to strengthen strategic relations in Asia, “then Japan’s chances would increase to 40%, which is not bad in a four- or five-horse race,” he added.
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