To complement this strategy, Japanese companies are boosting cooperation with their European counterparts to manufacture anti-submarine drones.

“The entire international community has witnessed how warfare has changed since the outbreak of the Ukraine war and Japan, like other countries, is now very much focused on the development of drones that will be carrying out much of the fighting on the future battlefield,” said Masayuki Masuda, director of Chinese studies at the Ministry of Defence’s National Institute of Defence Studies in Tokyo.

“Comparing the relative powers of Russia and Ukraine at the start of the war, it is clear that Ukraine has done very well and a good part of that is due to drones.”

While technology is a key focus, Japan knows the importance of possessing large numbers of drones that are easy and cheap to manufacture, according to Masuda.

“Quantity is just as important as quality in this area, but Japan has many small companies that could very quickly produce large numbers of cheap drones in great quantities should they be needed,” he said.