diff --git a/python/mozbuild/mozbuild/backend/android_eclipse.py b/python/mozbuild/mozbuild/backend/android_eclipse.py
index 315b848610e1ec..b46def33d8f1c3 100644
--- a/python/mozbuild/mozbuild/backend/android_eclipse.py
+++ b/python/mozbuild/mozbuild/backend/android_eclipse.py
@@ -122,6 +122,12 @@ def _manifest_for_project(self, srcdir, project):
 
         if project.res:
             manifest.add_symlink(mozpath.join(srcdir, project.res), 'res')
+        else:
+            # Eclipse expects a res directory no matter what, so we
+            # make an empty directory if the project doesn't specify.
+            res = os.path.abspath(mozpath.join(os.path.dirname(__file__),
+                'templates', 'android_eclipse_empty_resource_directory'))
+            manifest.add_pattern_copy(res, '.**', 'res')
 
         if project.assets:
             manifest.add_symlink(mozpath.join(srcdir, project.assets), 'assets')
diff --git a/python/mozbuild/mozbuild/backend/templates/android_eclipse_empty_resource_directory/.not_an_android_resource b/python/mozbuild/mozbuild/backend/templates/android_eclipse_empty_resource_directory/.not_an_android_resource
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..8ffce06921b748
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/mozbuild/mozbuild/backend/templates/android_eclipse_empty_resource_directory/.not_an_android_resource
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+This file is named such that it is ignored by Android aapt. The file
+itself ensures that the AndroidEclipse build backend can create an
+empty res/ directory for projects explicitly specifying that it has no
+resource directory.  This is necessary because the Android Eclipse
+plugin requires that each project have a res/ directory.