The U.S military would like Japan to produce more than 100 Patriot missiles, according to the Pentagon’s top official for acquisitions, as the two countries expand co-production of weapons to plug a burgeoning American shortage.
After last week’s “two-plus-two” meeting of foreign affairs and defense ministers in Tokyo, the U.S. and Japan agreed to expand production of PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement missiles — the highest-end member of the Patriot missile family — and newly co-produce the Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM).
Ahead of such co-production, Tokyo agreed to a one-time deal to sell Japan-made PAC-3 missiles from the Self-Defense Forces’ inventory to the U.S. for 3 billion yen ($20 million). An industry source told Nikkei Asia that Japan would sell 10 of them.
The scale of co-production for the Patriots will be much larger than 10, said William LaPlante, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, to reporters on the sidelines of the 2024 Emerging Technologies for Defense Conference and Exhibition in Washington on Wednesday.
“I don’t have the answer on the exact number, but the number that we would like to achieve is well over that — well over that,” he said when asked whether the production scale would be similar to the one-time purchase of the 10 missiles.
“I would say the numbers we would like to achieve would be 10 times that,” he said, without specifying over what time period.
In response to questions about the time period, a U.S. defense official said Thursday: “Our team is exploring a range of potential options for expanding the co-production of PAC-3 in Japan, including specific quantities.”
A Japanese Embassy official told Nikkei Asia that the two sides will discuss the feasibility of such large-scale production in the coming months.
“There has to be a way to bring down the cost per unit as a result of the co-production,” he said. “There’s no meaning in doing this if the cost increases.”
Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is the primary contractor that produces Patriots under license in the country, building around 30 missiles a year for the Air Self-Defense Force.
LaPlante said the challenge is to establish a “business case” where all parties can agree to the scale of the production and that the cooperation makes economic sense.
“PAC-3 is an example of something that is probably the most effective … high-end missile system in the world,” he said. It has been effective in countering Russian hypersonic weapons targeting the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, he noted.
The U.S. has been looking to tap the industrial bases of allies and partners for resources. LaPlante said that the more places are producing the PAC-3 and the AMRAAM, the better.
In an earlier panel discussion at the conference, LaPlante said co-production has a deterrent effect as adversaries will be watching where weapons are made.
“If you only see one place in the world [where] AMRAAMs are made, versus five places, that changes your perspective on AMRAAM,” LaPlante said.
