Japan will inform the U.S. next week regarding its intention to join the U.S. President Donald Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ missile defence initiative and expects that Washington may seek its help with missile production due to the war in West Asia and other conflicts, according to two sources.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will announce the latest plan when she meets Trump in Washington, D.C., at a leaders’ summit on March 19th, the sources said.
Trump’s Golden Dome project, announced last year with an ambitious 2028 timeline, envisions expanding existing ground-based defences such as interceptor missiles with more experimental space-based elements, meant to detect, track and potentially counter incoming threats from orbit.
However, the project has not made any significant progress and details about Japan’s participation are still unclear.
The Yomiuri newspaper, which first reported Japan’s plans on Friday, said Tokyo hoped the initiative could be used to defend the country against new hypersonic glide weapons that are being developed in China and Russia.
Japan Could Replace U.S. Munitions
Tokyo anticipates that Trump may request that Japan produce or co-develop missiles that could help replace stocks of U.S. munitions that have been depleted in the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, as well as its support for Ukraine, the sources added. However, it is still considering its response in case such a request is made.
Japan exported a batch of surface-to-air Patriot missiles built under license to the United States last year, making a historic break from its long-standing ban on lethal weapons exports.
The Trump administration is pushing defence contractors to increase production of missiles and other munitions that have been drawn down in recent years. Tokyo is seeking to bolster its own munition reserves to deter an increasingly assertive China and a nuclear-armed North Korea.
Patriot interceptors have been critical in intercepting hundreds of Iranian ballistic missiles and drones fired at Gulf countries since the U.S. and Israel launched their attack on Iran earlier this month.
Ukraine also relied on Patriots to defend its energy and military infrastructure since its war with Russia began in 2022.
(With inputs from Reuters)
