A US-led arms production partnership has agreed to open new defence manufacturing projects with American allies in Asia.
The Partnership for Indo-Pacific Industrial Resilience (PIPIR) decided to launch a new missile motor production programme with Japan, push forward a drone cooperation effort across Asia, and establish a new ammunition production line in the Philippines.
PIPIR is a group of nations that work together to build weapons and arms manufacturing capacity in the Asia-Pacific region.
The PIPIR was set up in May 2024 to reduce supply chain risks and help the global allies to produce and maintain military systems closer to where they would be needed.
The Pentagon published a joint statement on Friday (March 20, 2026) after a virtual meeting on Wednesday (March 18), where the group welcomed Thailand and the United Kingdom as new members. This took the total PIPIR membership to 16 across the Indo-Pacific and Europe.
The PIPIR said it agreed to launch new projects to produce solid rocket motors used in many guided weapons as propulsion systems, with Japan as the lead nation for the programme.
The project would boost production capacity for rocket motors, a key subsystem, outside of the US.
For the drones, the PIPIR decided on a series of steps to develop standards and shared supply chains for small military drones across the Indo-Pacific, including batteries and small motors powering them.
The group also decided to explore building drones jointly for a range of military uses.
The PIPIR also agreed to look into the Philippines hosting a new facility to load, assemble, and package 30mm cannon rounds, a type of ammunition widely used by military aircraft and ground vehicles.