U.K., Japan sign defence pact allowing reciprocal troop deployment

The U.K and Japan signed a defence pact, which will permit the deployment of troops in each other’s countries and increase security cooperation.

About the Reciprocal Access Agreement:

The agreement would allow both forces to plan and deliver larger scale, more complex military exercises and deployments.
It is one the most significant treaty between the countries since 1902, when the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Alliance was signed.
The move comes as Britain is undertaking a ‘tilt’ towards the Indo-Pacific in its foreign and security policy.

Other recent developments:

In December, Japan’s F-X fighter jet program was merged with the UK and Italy’s ‘Tempest’ program to create the Global Combat Air Programme.
The U.K. and Japan had also launched a digital partnership in December 2022, to increase cooperation in semiconductors, cyber resilience and online safety.

UK will focus on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Later on, UK and Japan will also hold talks on Japan’s G7 presidency, support for Ukraine and the supply chain resilience.

India’s Reciprocal Exchange of Troops Agreements:

India is fast inking reciprocal military logistics pacts with like-minded countries to extend its strategic and naval operational reach in the entire Indian Ocean region (IOR) and beyond.
The mutual logistics support arrangement (MLSA) with Australia will help us to extend the reach of the reach of our warships in southern IOR as well as the Western pacific region for India.
The Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) inked with US in 2016, with France in 2018 and later on with Japan in 2020.

Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA):

LEMOA stands for Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), a tweaked India-specific version of the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA), which the U.S. has with several countries it has, close military to military cooperation. It is also one of the three foundational agreements — as referred to by the U.S.
LEMOA gives access, to both countries, to designated military facilities on either side for the purpose of refuelling and replenishment. India and the U.S. already hold large number of joint exercises during which payments are done each time, which is a long and tedious process.