AUSTRALIAN and Japanese officials agreed to strengthen their strategic capabilities on undersea warfare as part of a joint research collaboration signed by both countries.
The collaboration supports AUKUS pillar two, which focuses on the joint development of advanced capabilities and forms part of a bilateral research, development, test, and evaluation agreement signed by both countries last year.
AUKUS is a trilateral security partnership that involves the United States and the United Kingdom assisting Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines.
Although Japan is not an AUKUS partner, it has signed a joint declaration on security cooperation in 2022 with Australia, which covers expanded collaboration on advanced defense science and technology, defense industry, and high-end capabilities.
A UK parliamentary committee previously proposed to invite Japan and South Korea to join AUKUS.
Discussions are also underway for stronger military cooperation in various sectors that involved increasing the frequency of joint drills in their respective territories.
Both countries have explored ways to strengthen their defense partnership in recent years.
Japan has previously asked permission to use Australia’s massive continent as a testing ground for Japanese missiles.
