The agreement was reached in ministerial security talks in Washington between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the U.S. side, and Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and Defense Agency Director General Yoshinori Ono representing Japan in the so-called "two-plus-two" talks, officially known as the Japan-U.S. Security Consultative Committee.

An interim report issued Saturday reflected agreement between the leaders on deepening the U.S.-Japanese alliance and developing more integrated cooperation between the Self-Defense Forces and U.S. forces, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported.

At a joint press conference after the meeting at the U.S. Defense Department, Ono said the realignment consultations marked a "historic process" that would upgrade the bilateral alliance. He said the Japanese government was ready to expand the Japanese Self Defense Forces' role to engage in joint defense activities with U.S. forces.

The 14-page interim report, titled "Japan-U.S. Alliance: Transformation and Realignment for the Future," calls for the establishment of a Japan-U.S. Joint Operations Center. It also proposes shifting the Air Self-Defense Force's Air Defense Command Headquarters from Fuchu to Yokota, both areas of western Tokyo, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

The report calls on both countries to step up arrangements for information sharing and joint information-gathering activities concerning missile defense systems.

America's new state-of-the-art X-Band early warning radars are to be brought to Japan and will be jointly operated with Japan's FPS-XX next-generation anti-missile radar system to establish a potent missile attack warning network, the newspaper said.

Sharing defense information could allow a U.S. Aegis-equipped destroyer to launch an interceptor missile based on radar information provided by Japan.

In addition, U.S. Patriot-3 missiles are to be deployed in Japan, according to the report.

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