Over the past twenty years, the Japan-India security collaboration has grown steadily, though not quickly. Given the outcomes of a recent key defense meeting, that may be ready to change.
On August 20, the third Japan-India Foreign and Defense Ministerial Meeting, known colloquially as “two-plus-two” talks, was held with little fanfare and scant global media attention in New Delhi.
At an apex level, Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and Foreign Affairs Minister Yoko Kamikawa met their Indian counterparts, Rajnath Singh and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
Atop their meeting agenda was China’s expanding military, political and economic might in the Indo-Pacific, prompting the emerging partners to align their rhetoric and strengthen their defense cooperation in new unison.
In a statement, the ministers expressed their joint opposition to any unilateral attempts to alter the strategic status quo and reiterated their commitment to upholding and bolstering the rules-based international order – a not-so-veiled joust at China’s growing assertiveness in the region.
Putting muscle behind the rhetoric, they agreed to conduct more bilateral and multilateral defense exercises. In particular, India said it welcomed Japanese fighters at its Tarang Shakti exercise, the first multilateral exercise hosted by the Indian Air Force.
All three Indian and Japanese military services – army, naval and air – held bilateral exercises in 2023, including the inaugural Veer Guardian 2023, which took place at Japan’s Hyakuri Air Base.
The ministers also agreed to update and amend the joint declaration on security cooperation that Japan and India first signed in October 2008 “to reflect contemporary priorities and be responsive to contemporary security challenges facing them.” Areas of collaborative priority will include cyber and space.
Perhaps more sensitively to China, the ministers also discussed the transfer of Japan’s latest radar technology, now utilized by the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force’s Mogami-class multirole frigate, to India.
Moreover, the ministers made progress in the export of Japan’s “Unified Complex Radio Antenna”, or UNICORN system, an antenna mast that includes sensors and transponders for communications, electronic warfare and navigation, to India’s navy.
Japan’s Mogami-class frigate’s bridge is now outfitted with UNICORN and a Nora-50 integration mast, a horn-shaped structure comprised of numerous antennas for tactical data links, TACAN (Tactical Air Navigation System) and communications.
UNICORN reduces the radar cross-section (RCS) of the antennas by stacking numerous antennas on top of one another, enclosing the entire system in one structure, making it stealthy.
Japanese Defense Minister Kihara said he approved the UNICORN transfer with a grant totaling approximately 1.5 billion yen (US$10.3 million), the first of its kind under Tokyo’s new Defense Equipment Transfer Facilitation Fund.
If and when transferred to India, it will mark Japan’s second key defense equipment export under the fund, the first being the export of air surveillance radar systems to the Philippines, which likewise will be deployed to counter China’s aggression in the region.
India is known to be pursuing high-end military and other technology transfers from strategic partners, including Quad members the United States, Australia and Japan. Meanwhile, Japan’s 2022 National Security Strategy explicitly emphasizes expanding security cooperation with India.
It’s a delicate balancing act for both as India maintains policies of “strategic autonomy” and non-aligned diplomacy, both of which refrain from forming alliances with other nations, and Japan maintains a pacificist constitution that is at increasing odds with the country’s remilitarization.
On the diplomatic front, the four ministers discussed India’s intention to open a new consulate in Fukuoka, raising India’s total number of diplomatic posts in Japan to three. Japan presently maintains five diplomatic missions in India. More broadly, both sides agreed at two-plus-two talks on the need for UN Security Council reform.
Clearly, Japan and India have strong strategic incentives to expand their collaboration, interoperability and confidence-building as both seek to consolidate their maritime peripheries and play more proactive roles in the region’s strategic balance.
The question now is how China will respond to India and Japan’s budding and increasingly fruitful strategic relations.
Simran Walia is an associate fellow at the Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi, and is pursuing a PhD In Japanese Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi (JNU). She has also completed an M.Phil in Japanese Studies from JNU and has worked at Observer Research Foundation, Delhi. She has published articles and papers in magazines and journals like The Diplomat, Indian Defence Review, Global Policy Journal, Asia Times, The National Interest, and 9DashLine among others.