"Japan is basically signaling both to the Philippines and the US, and beyond that, [to] Southeast Asia and others in the region, that they should look to Japan as a leader in this space," John Blaxland, of the Australian National University, told Breaking Defense.
As for new nations potentially working on AUKUS Pillar II tech efforts, the State Department's Kurt Campbell teased, “I think you'll hear that we have something to say about that" next week.
Explore how networked warfare, AI, and 3D-printed drones are reshaping US Indo-Pacific strategy.
Advancements in joint military exercises as well as efforts to counter missile threats from North Korea came out of the Camp David meetings.
The three countries will also invest in a new hotline to make communication between governments faster and easier.
"We're going to invest in technology to have a three-way hotline for the leaders and others inside their governments to communicate," among other announcements to come Friday, said a top NSC official.
"This appears to be a breakthrough moment, placing China more explicitly and centrally in the rationale for an unprecedented military expansion of post-war Japan," said John Blaxland, professor at Australian National University's Strategic and Defense Studies Center.
As aircraft shrink, threats expand, and technology accelerates, aircraft engines must iterate along with the threats.
"Two new aspects in the revised declaration are intelligence sharing, and greater interoperability. The latter is already underway, so the question is what is actually new here? More detail is required," Japan analyst Rikki Kirsten said.