Japan-India Defense Industry Dialogue

オーバービュー

The relationship between Asia’s leading democracies grows ever deeper, more resilient, and future focused. Japan hosted the G-7 this year while India leads the G-20. Trade and military ties continue to expand in the key bilateral 2+2 meetings with both foreign and defence ministers, and this past April the 7th India-Japan Defence Policy Dialogue took place in New Delhi.

Mutual defence began with the “Global Partnership between Japan and India” in the year 2000, which helped create the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, the Quad, that first decade. In the second decade the Tokyo Declaration for India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership and subsequent agreements on Defence Equipment and Technology Cooperation, and the terms of Security of Classified Military Information were concluded.

The first direct meeting between Indian and Japanese defence companies was held in Tokyo in 2017, followed by a Japanese delegation to India in 2018. Two side meetings at defence industry events were held in 2018 and 2019. In 2020 the Reciprocal Provisions of Supplies and Services (ACSA) between their armed forces provided new momentum to the relationship. A Joint Working Group on Defence Equipment and Technology Cooperation (JWG-DETC) held its sixth meeting in 2022.

The pandemic from 2020-2023 has restricted contact, and unfortunately, aside from a few small contracts signed between commercial companies, there have been no major business transactions. In fact, the most significant effort failed after many years of negotiation, the sale of Japan’s US-2 amphibious aircraft to the Indian Navy. That failure continues to resonate in Japan, affecting the confidence of Japanese companies to engage with their Indian counterparts.

This Defence Industry Dialogue will discuss lessons learned from the US-2 experience from those on both sides of the deal, to emphasize next generation cooperation, and to focus on the most likely prospects for co-development and co-production.

Agenda

Panel Discussion

Co-Organizers