US and Japan agree to establish missile-production facility

CEBU, Philippines -- The United States and Japan have agreed to establish a Japanese facility for the joint production of advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, the Japanese defense chief said late Wednesday. It is the latest move by the allies, which have repeatedly expressed alarm over China’s growing aggression in Asia.Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi made the announcement in a news conference Wednesday night in the central province of Cebu, where he met U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the sidelines of an annual meeting of Southeast Asian defense chiefs and their major Asian and Western counterparts.The annual meetings aim to avert a major regional conflict and strengthen defense cooperation. On the sidelines of the meetings, however, the U.S. and China and their allies have often traded criticisms.The missiles that will be produced as part of a joint effort called “Operation Supercharge" are “essential for the F-35,” Koizumi said, without elaborating or providing other details of the agreement. The U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets are one of the world’s most advanced aircraft and are also used by the Japanese military.During his brief meeting with Hegseth in Ceb...