By Tim Kelly, Maki Shiraki and Yoshifumi Takemoto
TOKYO, June 25 (Reuters) - U.S. defence firm Anduril Industries is in talks to acquire Nissan Motor's Oppama assembly plant near Tokyo as the maker of autonomous weapons looks to build military drones in Japan, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
While they say no decision has been made, any deal could transform one of Japan's first large-scale postwar car factories, long a symbol of its industrial revival, into an arms-making hub.
The talks over Oppama, which Reuters is reporting for the first time, come as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government seeks to expand defence manufacturing amid growing concern that a Taiwan Strait crisis could draw in Japan and run down weapons stocks.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as part of its territory, has not ruled out using force to bring it under control.
At the same time, any deal between Anduril and Nissan could draw scrutiny from critics wary of Japan's retreat from postwar pacifism and test public support for converting civilian industry to defence production.
It could also raise questions about foreign control because U.S. defence equipment produced in Japan is typically built under licence by domestic companies.
Takaichi's government is expected to unveil this year a new national security strategy that could accelerate spending on drones, munitions and other military equipment while mapping out steps to expand arms production.
For now, Nissan is talking with other potential buyers and Anduril will still need to secure orders from Japan's military to justify any purchase, said the sources, who sought anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
They did not say if Anduril had submitted a price for the Oppama site.
Nissan declined to comment whether it was in talks with Anduril, adding that no decision had been made on future ownership of the Oppama plant it plans to close in 2028.
Anduril said it would not comment on "market speculation", although it said it was working with Japan and "exploring opportunities to strengthen local production".
The company is not alone in eyeing Japan's emerging drone market, however. Growing demand in Asia is also attracting Ukrainian companies offering drones battle-tested against Russian forces, sources told Reuters earlier.
RETOOLING FOR DEFENCE
Oppama, which opened in 1961, is located an hour by train south of the capital, and has produced about 18 million vehicles. It was also the birthplace of the Leaf, Nissan's first mass-market electric vehicle, in 2010.
Last year, Nissan said it would shutter the factory in its plans to trim production capacity by 1 million vehicles and offer its 2,400 workers jobs elsewhere in Japan.
Anduril has yet to decide how much it needs of the site, where research, testing and port facilities sprawl over 1.7 million sq m (18.3 million sq ft), but has offered to retrain workers there to build defence equipment, one of the sources said.
The coastal factory is close to Yokosuka naval base, the headquarters of Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force and home to the U.S. Navy's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier strike group. Oppama also lies in the parliamentary district of Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi.
Koizumi met Anduril founder Palmer Luckey in December when he visited Tokyo for the opening of the firm's Japanese unit.
Japan had "much to learn from Anduril," Koizumi said on X later, adding that ties with the company could help develop the defence industry.
Anduril's collaboration with General Motors in the United States was an example of cooperation between drone makers and the auto industry, Koizumi told parliament in April.
A Japanese defence ministry spokesperson declined to comment on any discussions involving Anduril and Nissan's Oppama plant.
Luckey, who invented the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, co-founded Anduril in 2017. The company says it can build autonomous weapons more cheaply and quickly than established defence contractors.
This month, the U.S. Air Force awarded Anduril and General Atomics a contract to build its first fleet of semi-autonomous combat aircraft, which will be paired with crewed fighters.
Last year, to show it could meet Japan's domestic-content requirements, Anduril built a prototype drone dubbed Kizuna, or "bond" in Japanese, using only Japanese components.
The company has also started units in Taiwan and South Korea in an effort to tap rising military spending by governments in the region seeking to deter China from using military force to pursue its territorial claims.
(Reporting by Tim Kelly, Maki Shiraki, Yoshifumi Takemoto; Additional reporting by Daniel Leussink and Tamiyuki Kihara; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
