Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Japan says it has completed procedures to become part of the Joint Combined Space Operations (CSPO) Initiative that monitors activities in space.

A statement issued by Japan’s Ministry of Defense says that the Ministry and the Self-Defense Forces of Japan have been working on strengthening cooperation in the space field with like-minded countries and application procedures have been completed.

The Joint Combined Space Operations started in 2014 with the US, UK, Australia, and Canada. They were joined by New Zealand in 2015, Germany in 2019 and France in 2020. 

The project is a multinational framework aimed at generating and improving cooperation, coordination, and interoperability opportunities to sustain freedom of action in space, optimize resources, enhance mission assurance and resilience, and prevent conflict.

“This initiative is the venue where we can discuss agenda such as necessary operations, architectures and legal issues for space security,” the MOD statement said. “JMOD/ SDF would like to strengthen cooperative relationships in the space field much further with like-minded countries through the CSpO Initiative.”