WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Japan will sign a new research and development agreement to make it easier to collaborate on countering new defense threats, including hypersonics and space-based capabilities, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday.

       Blinken also told the opening of a virtual meeting between the foreign and defense ministers of Japan and the United States that they would sign a new five-year agreement covering the continued basing of U.S. troops in Japan that would invest greater resources to deepen military readiness and interoperability.

       (Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Dan Whitcomb and Rami Ayyub; Editing by Chris Reese)