US, Japan create new working groups on EW, information warfare

Members of the US-Japan ‘2+2' Security Consultative Committee hold bilateral security talks in Tokyo on 28 July 2024. (Janes/Carlo Munoz)

US Department of Defense (DoD) officials and their Japanese counterparts have agreed to establish a series of new, bilateral working groups to address challenges in electronic warfare (EW), information warfare, and joint command and control (C2).

The establishment of the new working groups was the result of the most recent round of talks between the two countries as part of the US-Japan ‘2+2' Security Consultative Committee. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, along with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Minister of Defense Minoru Kihara, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoko Kamikawa, participated in the talks held on 28 July in Tokyo.

The working groups were created to support the overall goal of “strengthening bilateral co-ordination on cross-domain operations, including cyber, space, and electromagnetic warfare (EW), [and] recognising the importance of all these domains to future concepts of deterrence and response capabilities” for both countries, according to a 28 July joint statement issued at the conclusion of the 2+2 talks.

DoD officials declined to comment on specifics regarding the new EW working group. It also remains unclear how the stand up of the new working group will impact ongoing work by Japan and the US as part of the AUKUS (Australia, UK, US) alliance. EW, along with artificial intelligence (AI), quantum technologies, hypersonic and counter-hypersonic capabilities, defence innovation, cyber-security, and information sharing, are all key areas for AUKUS Pillar 2.