India had showed interest in procuring Japanese ShinMaywa US-2 amphibious patrol aircraft
Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal described the move as an opportunity to expand practical cooperation under the bilateral Special Strategic and Global Partnership, stressing that defence and security ties remain a central pillar of the relationship.
He noted that both governments and private stakeholders are committed to advancing technology and industrial collaboration.
The recalibration announced by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi represents a significant departure from Japan’s post-war pacifist framework, which had tightly limited arms exports for decades.
Tokyo will now allow the transfer of a wider range of defence equipment, including lethal systems, to select partner countries with established security arrangements. This shift reflects Japan’s response to a deteriorating regional security environment.
For India, the timing is particularly relevant. Both New Delhi and Tokyo are grappling with the challenges posed by an assertive China across the Indo-Pacific.
Their cooperation extends across bilateral engagements and multilateral platforms such as the Quad, where maritime security and the defence of a rules-based order remain central themes.
Defence ties between India and Japan have steadily expanded over the past decade, supported by agreements on logistics support, information security, and equipment transfer. Regular exercises such as JIMEX and Dharma Guardian have enhanced interoperability between the two militaries, especially in maritime and air domains.
Tokyo has also demonstrated willingness to offer advanced platforms, including the Mogami-class stealth frigates, signalling a gradual shift towards more substantive engagement.
Japan’s evolving export posture is already evident in its recent transfer of air surveillance radar systems to the Philippines and a major naval deal involving Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Australia. These examples highlight Tokyo’s growing readiness to operationalise its defence industry capabilities overseas.
Despite political convergence, however, India–Japan defence industrial cooperation has struggled to deliver concrete outcomes. High-profile projects have faltered. Negotiations over the US-2 amphibious aircraft in 2018, once seen as a flagship collaboration, stalled due to disagreements over cost, technology transfer, and production arrangements. Similarly, Japan’s limited response to India’s submarine programme queries revealed gaps in alignment on complex, high-end platforms.
Even with institutional mechanisms in place, such as the Joint Working Group on Defence Equipment and Technology Cooperation and the India–Japan Defence Industry Forum, progress has been modest.
The joint research initiative between Japan’s ATLA and India’s DRDO on unmanned ground vehicles remains at a developmental stage, while the co-development of the Unified Complex Radio Antenna-UNICORN sensor mast is only beginning to show promise.
Structural constraints continue to weigh heavily on the partnership. India’s emphasis on indigenisation, local manufacturing, and technology absorption under initiatives like Make in India often clashes with Japan’s cautious approach to intellectual property protection and export controls. Japanese firms, long accustomed to a protected domestic market, remain hesitant about large-scale overseas commitments involving deep technology sharing.
Cost competitiveness is another challenge. Japanese defence systems, developed without the benefit of large export volumes, often struggle to meet the pricing expectations of India’s procurement ecosystem.
Nevertheless, Japan’s policy shift opens a fresh window of opportunity. As warfare evolves with increasing reliance on drones, artificial intelligence, and autonomous systems, both countries share overlapping priorities in emerging technologies. The challenge will be to move beyond declaratory intent and address the regulatory, commercial, and industrial gaps that have so far limited progress.
For India, Japan’s recalibrated defence posture offers both an opportunity and a test: whether the partnership can finally deliver tangible outcomes, or remain strategically aligned but industrially under-realised.
Agencies
