AMRAAM in Japan: the US and Tokyo agree on a final assembly and check-out facility for the missile, a “landmark agreement” says Koizumi

Japan and the United States have closed the agreement for Japan to acquire its own final assembly and check-out facility for the AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missile. It was announced on Wednesday, October 28 by Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, after his ninth meeting with US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, on the sidelines of the ASEAN defence ministers’ meetings in the Philippines.

In his statement to the press, published by the spokesman of the Japanese defence ministry, Koizumi placed the agreement within “Operation Supercharge”, the Japan-US cooperation on defence equipment and technology: “We have finally been able to agree on establishing in Japan a final assembly and inspection facility for the AMRAAM air-to-air missile, which is indispensable for the F-35.” He called the result a “landmark agreement” that not only secures equipment both countries need but also strengthens the industrial base of Japan’s defence. “We will raise the Japan-US alliance even higher, not only in words but in deeds,” he added.

What a FACO is

The planned facility is of the FACO (Final Assembly and Check-Out) type: ready subsystems are assembled into complete missiles, which are tested before delivery. Japan is already a customer of the missile: in January 2025 the State Department approved the sale of up to 1,200 AIM-120D-3 and AIM-120C-8 missiles worth about $3.64 billion. Officials of the two countries say the agreement will diversify the AMRAAM industrial base and create regional stockpiles for the US and its allies.

The American side stressed munitions production more broadly. Hegseth wrote on X that the strategic alignment of the two countries is critical for “a credible defence of denial”, resting on “increased investment, greater access, more realistic training and stronger production of the munitions our forces need”. The Department of War’s readout of the meeting says Hegseth welcomed Japan’s efforts to strengthen its defence industrial capacity and that the two ministers committed to continued close coordination on the production of critical munitions. Koizumi also briefed his US counterpart on the revision of Japan’s three key security documents and on strengthening the “denial” capability against an invasion.

From 2024 to the agreement

The agreement culminates an effort that began in July 2024, when the two governments decided to examine the co-production of AMRAAMs and PAC-3 MSE missiles. On April 28, 2026, Mitsubishi Electric announced that it was holding discussions with industrial partners, including RTX’s Raytheon, on the scope of Japanese participation as defined at the fourth DICAS 2.0 meeting. The scope included circuit card assembly and, as a possibility, a future FACO facility in Japan. The Japanese company is studying its possible participation in production on the basis of its 2024 and 2025 contracts with the defence ministry and cites its experience in developing and building air-to-air missiles for Japan’s armed forces.

The AIM-120 AMRAAM is built in the United States by Raytheon and is the main beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile of American and allied fighters, from the F-16 to the F-22 and F-35. Demand has soared. In late September the Pentagon and RTX announced a five-year contract, with two option years, worth up to $20.7 billion, while a framework agreement of February provides for raising production to at least 1,900 missiles a year.

The facility in Japan is part of a wider Tokyo effort to strengthen its defence industry and cooperation with allies. The same day Koizumi also met counterparts from South Korea, India, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam and took part in a quadrilateral meeting with the US, Australia and the Philippines.