"We finally reached an agreement on the establishment of a final assembly and inspection facility in Japan for the AMRAAM air-to-air missile, which is essential for the F-35," Koizumi said, according to a translation of his remarks published by Air & Space Forces Magazine.
Koizumi and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in Cebu
Japanese Defense Minister Shinjirō Koizumi announced the agreement after discussions with U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus in Cebu, Philippines. The meeting produced an announcement that places the planned facility within the Operation Supercharge initiative, the bilateral program designed to accelerate cooperation on defense equipment and technology between the two governments.
Final assembly and inspection facility for AIM-120 AMRAAMs
The facility will perform final assembly and inspection of AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs) in Japan, a model that stops short of a full domestic manufacture of the weapon. The announcement stressed that details remain to be decided: the facility’s location, construction timeline, anticipated production capacity, opening date and the Japanese industrial partner have not been disclosed. Tokyo and Washington have framed the arrangement as a way to ensure access to munitions required by both countries while strengthening Japan’s domestic defense-industrial base.
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The Japanese facility is intended to join a broader surge in AMRAAM production that the United States is already pursuing. In September, RTX subsidiary Raytheon won a five-year AMRAAM production contract, with options for two additional years, valued at up to $20.7 billion and covering Lots 41 through 47. Under a framework announced in February, Raytheon is working toward annual production of at least 1,900 missiles; the new Japanese node "will account for a share" of that overall target. The recent lots include advanced AIM-120D-3 variants with modernized processors and software-based electronic-warfare countermeasures. AIM-120s can cost over $1 million per unit, depending on variant.
Technology constraints, industrial safeguards, and prior Japanese involvement
Negotiations required careful handling of classified guidance technology and proprietary intellectual property. Japan’s longstanding restrictions on arms exports and defense-industrial cooperation complicated talks, and the final-assembly model was chosen in part to allow component production through an industrial arrangement while protecting sensitive information. The initiative traces back more than two years: it emerged in 2024, followed by a feasibility study supported by Mitsubishi Electric and Raytheon. By April 2026 discussions had expanded to include possible Japanese production of circuit card assemblies in addition to final assembly and inspection.
SM-3 Block IIA technical sharing and allied munition efforts
Koizumi also confirmed a parallel agreement to share technical information intended to increase production of the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA interceptor. SM-3 Block IIA, a product of a joint U.S.-Japanese development program, is designed to intercept ballistic missiles during the midcourse phase of flight and is principally employed by ship-based Aegis missile-defense systems. Japan has acquired the interceptor, including as the primary effectors for its two new Aegis System Equipped Vessels (ASEV). Neither government disclosed how much the SM-3 agreement is expected to increase output or when additional interceptors might become available.
What this means for Japan, the United States, and Ukraine
- Japan: Domestic final assembly could support replenishment of Japan’s own AMRAAM stocks and be used to strengthen its defense-industrial capabilities while remaining consistent with export and technology-protection constraints.
- The United States: An additional qualified production location adds diversification to the manufacturing network supplying U.S. forces and international customers and aligns with RTX’s multiyear contract strategy that provides production stability and investment visibility.
- Ukraine and allied customers: The move responds to soaring international demand — driven in part by AMRAAM employment through NASAMS and fighter aircraft in Ukraine — and could help relieve supply pressures created by recent extensive use in campaigns against Houthi drones and in engagements over Syria and Iraq.
Raytheon states the AMRAAM is fielded by 44 countries and operates across 14 platforms; NASAMS protects the U.S. Capital Region and over a dozen countries. The scale of the contribution Japan’s facility will make to overall missile availability depends on its eventual capacity and the division of manufacturing responsibilities between Japanese and U.S. industry. The U.S. Department of War readout of the Cebu meeting said Secretary Hegseth welcomed Japan’s efforts to strengthen its defense-industrial capacity and that the two leaders committed to continued coordination on critical munitions production, though the readout did not specifically mention the AMRAAM facility.
The agreements sit alongside broader Western efforts to expand missile production capacity — the story notes, for example, Lockheed Martin’s recent announcement to establish a PAC-3 Missile Maintenance Facility in Poland — but many operational details remain undecided. Whether the Japanese assembly node materially improves missile availability in a prolonged Indo-Pacific crisis will hinge on where the facility is built, how quickly it comes online, and whether the global supply chain can deliver the components required to turn declared capacity into deliverable weapons.
