Thales to set up Japan's first foreign-run defence maintenance base, starting with navy equipment

French defence group Thales will set up a base in Japan to maintain and support military equipment, starting with gear used by the Maritime Self-Defense Force, in what would be the first such facility run by a foreign defence company in the country, the Nikkei business daily reported, according to accounts published on 12 October 2026.

Staff at the new base would inspect equipment, assess its technical condition and diagnose faults. The work will initially centre on the navy, with plans to extend it later to equipment used by the Ground Self-Defense Force and the Air Self-Defense Force. Neither a location nor an opening date has been disclosed, and the company is still evaluating possible sites.

Thales chairman and chief executive Patrice Caine told the Nikkei that the base would be a milestone in the company's long-term engagement with Japan. He named radar and sonar as possible areas to share with Japanese partners and said Thales hoped to offer support where its technology has a performance edge. The newspaper said the business could later expand to civilian equipment as well.

Thales, in which the French state holds a stake of just under 30 percent, already supplies equipment to the Self-Defense Forces. It provides Mitsubishi Heavy Industries with sonar for the underwater vehicles that the Maritime Self-Defense Force uses to hunt for mines, and it has operated in Japan since 1970 across defence, aerospace and digital security.

Mortar production moves to Japan

Alongside the maintenance plan, Thales will transfer production technology for its 2R2M automatic 120mm heavy mortar to partner Japan Steel Works, which is due to begin making the weapon in Japan in 2027. Under an agreement signed in September 2024, Japan Steel Works holds exclusive rights to manufacture and sell the 2R2M in Japan for 15 years, while Japanese firm Howa will produce the barrels.

The French-designed mortar is being fitted to Mitsubishi's 8x8 wheeled multipurpose armoured vehicle, a combination designated the Type 24 Mobile 120mm Mortar. Japan plans to buy 90 of the systems for mortar units in its rapid deployment regiments, divisions and brigades. They will gradually replace the tracked Type 96 self-propelled 120mm mortars now used by the 7th Armored Division.

Spending push

The move comes as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi keeps raising defence spending amid concern in Tokyo over China's rapid military expansion and North Korea's weapons programmes, a shift away from the pacifist stance that long limited Japan's use of force to self-defence.

The planned facility and the domestic mortar line are part of a wider Japanese effort to strengthen support for military equipment and widen industrial cooperation with European defence companies. Thales shares were up about 1.5 percent in Paris around midday on Monday after the report.