Japan and Australia agreed to accelerate discussions on a new decade-long arrangement giving Japan access to Australian test ranges for hypersonic missiles and other long-range weapons, the two countries’ defence ministers said in Canberra on August 18. Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi called the prospect a “groundbreaking development,” noting it would make Australia only the second country, after the United States, to host such tests for Japan’s military. The ministers also reported progress on Project Boobook, a joint high-energy laser system designed to detect incoming threats, calling recent field trials a “significant milestone,” according to The Japan Times.
The range arrangement follows Japan’s first live-fire test of a Tomahawk cruise missile, launched from the destroyer JS Chokai in the Pacific Ocean on July 29 with US Navy support. The launch made Japan only the fourth country besides the United States to fire a Tomahawk from a surface warship. Separately on July 31, Japan launched the National Intelligence Bureau, replacing the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office as its central intelligence coordinator under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s security overhaul.
Australia offers Japan strategic depth for testing weapons difficult to fire from Japanese territory, given its dense population centres and strict airspace controls. Together, the range arrangement, the Tomahawk test and the new intelligence bureau mark parallel tracks in Tokyo’s rearmament under Takaichi. That buildup is proceeding as Washington’s crisis bandwidth is increasingly absorbed by Iran and Middle East maritime security.
