On April 17, Japan and the European Union (EU) held in Brussels the first meeting of the Defence Industry Dialogue, issuing a joint statement that included a commitment to enhancing defense industrial and dual-use technology cooperation.
A private-sector led initiative, the dialogue is co-organized by the Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) and the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies (SJAC), which both together represent thousands of companies.[1]
The Defence Industry Dialogue’s inaugural meeting was also attended by Japanese and EU officials, including the European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius and Japan’s State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Toshiro Ino.
The dialogue was launched under the EU-Japan Competitiveness Alliance established at the EU-Japan Summit in July 2025, and forms part of the EU-Japan Security and Defence Partnership announced in November 2024.
The EU-Japan Defence Industry Dialogue is envisaged as a platform to deepen mutual understanding of key industry challenges, explore opportunities for cooperation, and foster networking among member companies of ASD and SJAC.[2]
To this end, a joint statement[3] released following the conclusion of the dialogue’s first meeting highlights the “envisaged” signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation to strengthen defense sector collaboration by the two industrial groups.
Japan’s Defence Industry Dialogue with the EU coincided with talks between Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and NATO aimed at strengthening industrial cooperation with the transatlantic alliance,[4] and came just ahead of the Sanae Takaichi government’s April 21 decision to ease key restrictions on the export of lethal weapons.
Japan’s efforts to deepen cooperation with Europe also come as the government designates aerospace as a strategic sector for economic growth and seeks to promote dual-use technologies as a key part of meeting national security requirements.
Private-Sector Participation in the EU-Japan Dialogue
Around 20 European companies, including Saab, Thales, and Leonardo, attended the April 17 dialogue. They were joined by around 30 companies and organizations on the Japanese side which included major established primes such as Subaru, Hitachi, and NEC.[5]
Japanese startups with dual-use technologies also took part in the dialogue. One confirmed participant is SpaceData, a developer of AI-powered digital twin systems for space and terrestrial environments that also recently pitched its technologies to NATO officials.[6]
A notable participant on the Japanese side who was scheduled to attend was Kimito Nakae, President of Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co., Ltd. (JAIEC).[7]
JAIEC is currently coordinating Japan’s private-sector participation in the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) with Italy and the United Kingdom and aims to generate spillover effects that benefit Japan’s civilian aviation sector.
This “dual-use” objective aligns closely with the broader strategic priorities of JAIEC’s majority shareholder and co-host of the EU-Japan Defence Industry Dialogue, the SJAC.[8]
SJAC Strategy and Collaboration with Europe’s ASD
In February 2024, SJAC issued a report emphasizing the growing importance of the dual-use sector as well as civilian technologies that can be spun into defense applications.
Japan’s aerospace industry group observed how these technologies can serve as a source of national bargaining power and the need for a long-term strategy for maintaining international competitiveness in aircraft technologies.[9]
SJAC’s report also highlighted how Europe’s ASD (co-host of this month’s EU–Japan Defence Industry Dialogue) acts as a key standard-setter for the aerospace sector, noting how the European group worked with the United States’ Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) to develop the “S-Series” set of standards for lifecycle and product support.[10]
A few months later, in July 2024, SJAC secured representation on key S-Series committees and working groups through an agreement with ASD and AIA. This move marks a shift toward active agenda-setting, with SJAC working with ASD to shape lifecycle and product support standards.[11]
This growing collaboration by Japanese and European defence and aerospace industries, culminating in the Defence Industry Dialogue held on April 17, has in recent years been accompanied by parallel efforts at the official EU and Japanese government level.
EU-Japan Political Convergence
This month’s private sector-led dialogue stems from a political agreement made at last year’s EU–Japan Summit in July 2025. The accord committed to strengthening defense industrial cooperation and establishing the EU–Japan Competitive Alliance which then called for private industry to launch the EU–Japan Defence Industry Dialogue.[12]
These commitments built on the EU-Japan Security and Defence Partnership agreed in November 2024, which called for “possible mutual involvement in respective defence initiatives.”[13] That summer, reports also indicated that the EU was interested in exploring joint funding with the Japanese government to support defense projects involving Japanese and European companies.[14]
Momentum continued in June 2025, when EU and Japanese officials held their first Security and Defence Dialogue, where they exchanged views on defence industrial policies and agreeed to cooperate on space security, among other areas.[15]
By December 2025, reports suggested that the Japanese government was looking to facilitate joint R&D and drone production with European companies through participation in SAFE (Security Action for Europe), the EU’s €150 billion joint defense procurement and financing mechanism established in May 2025.[16]
Japan’s interest in dual-use collaboration has since extended to individual EU member states. In February 2026, a delegation of senior Japanese officials and business executives visited Finland, Sweden, and Germany to facilitate partnerships between Japanese and European firms, marking the first such initiative to explicitly focus on the dual-use sector.[17]
Thus, expanding political engagement between the EU and Japan, alongside private-sector alignment, over the past two years resulted in the launch of this month’s EU-Japan Defence Industry Dialogue.
Conclusions
Commitments made at this month’s inaugural EU-Japan Defence Industry Dialogue to promote dual-use technologies are an important step toward concrete initiatives. These are likely to form part of the prospective SJAC-ASD Memorandum of Cooperation highlighted in the dialogue’s joint statement.
Based on recent SJAC-ASD partnership developments, it is likely that the memorandum will focus on jointly setting standards for emerging aerospace technologies relevant to both groups, including dual-use technologies like UAVs and space satellites. Joint engagement by both groups to support matchmaking for association members is also likely.
If such cooperation is realized, it could help accelerate alignment between Japanese and European aerospace sectors and create more opportunities for Japanese startups with promising dual-use technologies to collaborate with European industry partners.
One example of how this cooperation is already emerging is the strategic agreement signed this February by Synspective Inc., a Japanese developer of small Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites, with European prime Airbus Defence and Space to integrate the Japanese company’s capabilities into Airbus’ global earth observation portfolio.[18]
Concrete dual-use initiatives led by SJAC and ASD could further accelerate this growing alignment between Japanese and European private-sectors and enable greater opportunities for a broader range of Japanese startups to collaborate with European companies in the aerospace sector.
Notes:
[1] European Commission, “EU-Japan Defence Industry Dialogue”, April 17, 2026, https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/eu-japan-defence-industry-dialogue-2026-04-17_en.
[2] ASD, “ASD and SJAC hold first EU-Japan Defence Industry Dialogue”, April 17, 2026, https://www.asd-europe.org/news-media/news-events/news/asd-and-sjac-hold-first-eu-japan-defence-industry-dialogue/.
[3] Joint Press Statement, 17 April 2026: EU-Japan Defence Industry Dialogue, https://www.meti.go.jp/policy/mono_info_service/mono/aerospace/jointstatemntdid.pdf.
[4] Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, “赤澤経済産業大臣がNATO（北大西洋条約機構）常駐大使団と会談しました” [Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akazawa met with the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Permanent Representative delegation], April 17, 2026, https://www.meti.go.jp/press/2026/04/20260417002/20260417002.html.
[5] Nippon.com, “Japan, EU Hold 1st Defense Industry Dialogue”, April 18, 2026, https://www.nippon.com/en/news/yjj2026041701104/japan-eu-hold-1st-defense-industry-dialogue.html.
[6] SpaceData Inc., “スペースデータ、日EU初の「防衛産業対話」に参加” [SpaceData participates in the first ever Japan-EU “Defence Industry Dialogue”]. PR Times, April 23, 2026, https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000132.000080352.html.
[7] Nikkei Shimbun, “日EUの防衛産業協力、仏タレスなど大手参加” [Japan-EU defense industry cooperation: Major players including France’s Thales to participate], April 15, 2026, https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGKKZO95668570V10C26A4MM0000/.
[8] Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., “”Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co. Ltd.” to Start Operations”, July 10, 2024, https://www.mhi.com/news/240710.html.
[9] SJAC, “令和 6 年版 日本の航空宇宙工業” [Japan’s Aerospace Industry, 2024 Edition], February 2024, p.12, https://www.sjac.or.jp/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/nihon_R06.pdf
[10] Ibid, p.89.
[11] ASD, “Aerospace cooperation boosted by new agreements on S1000D and S-Series specifications, July 23, 2024, ”https://www.asd-europe.org/news-media/news-events/news/aerospace-cooperation-boosted-by-new-agreements-on-s1000d-and-s-series-specifications/
[12] Japan-EU Summit 2025 Joint Statement, Japan-EU Competitiveness Alliance, https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/files/100878542.pdf.
[13] Security and Defence Partnership between the European Union and Japan, November 1, 2024, https://www.eeas.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/2024/EU-Japan%20Security%20and%20Defence%20Partnership.pdf.
[14] Reuters, “EU seeks defence industry partnerships with Japan, South Korea, says Nikkei”, June 23, 2024, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/eu-seeks-defence-industry-partnerships-with-japan-south-korea-says-nikkei-2024-06-23/.
[15] European Union External Action Service, “EU-Japan: First Security and Defence Dialogue at Managing Director / Director General Level takes place in Brussels”, June 12, 2025, https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/eu-japan-first-security-and-defence-dialogue-managing-director-director-general-level-takes-place_en.
[16] Nikkei Shimbun, “日本とEU、防衛品を共同開発 融資枠組みへの参画検討” [Japan considers participation in EU financing framework forto joint development of defense equipment], December 30, 2025, https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOGR24AT10U5A221C2000000/.
[17] Hironari Akiyama, “Japan’s Public, Private Sectors Plan to Sell Dual-Use Products to Nordic Countries as Delegation Touring Europe”. The Japan News, February 3, 2026, https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/defense-security/20260203-308592/.
[18] Synspective Inc., “Synspective and Airbus Defence and Space Announce Strategic Partnership to Expand SAR Satellite Data Access”, February 10, 2026, https://synspective.com/press-release/2026/airbus_partnership/.
This article was originally posted on NSBT Japan, the first defense and security industry network in Japan. The publication provides the latest information on security business trends both within Japan and overseas. Asian Military Review began exchanging articles with NSBT Japan in April 2024.
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