Singapore/Tokyo ¨C France¡¯s Space Command will host a Japanese liaison officer from July as Paris and Tokyo move to deepen operational cooperation in areas ranging from space to maritime coordination, French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin has revealed.
The move marks one of the most tangible outcomes so far of a bilateral defense road map signed by Vautrin and Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi during French President Emmanuel Macron¡¯s Tokyo visit in April. It is also one of the clearest signs yet that the Franco-Japanese defense relationship is evolving from political alignment into practical military integration.
¡°We must improve our interoperability,¡± Vautrin told The Japan Times in an exclusive interview last week, pointing out that her visit to the Japan Joint Operations Command ¡ª the first by a foreign defense chief ¡ª provided ¡°valuable insights into how to strengthen operational cooperation,¡± especially in the field of space operations, a critical yet increasingly contested modern warfare domain.
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