TOKYO: Japan and the United States opened the first meeting of their Defense Industrial Cooperation Acquisition and Sustainment Forum, or DICAS, in Tokyo on Sunday.

In the meeting, government officials discuss the joint development and production of defense equipment. The two countries will work to build a supply chain for equipment to strengthen their abilities to keep fighting, gaining cooperation from the defense industries of both countries.

The establishment of the forum was agreed upon between Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio and U.S. President Joe Biden during Kishida’s state visit to the United States in April.

Key issues include bolstering the production system of air defense missiles, which face global shortages amid Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, and doing maintenance on U.S. military vessels and fighter jets at commercial facilities in Japan.

The meeting will end on Monday. Participants include FUKASAWA Masaki, commissioner of Japan’s Acquisition, Technology, & Logistics Agency, and U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante.

JIJI Press