Under its latest National Security Strategy, Japan announced that it will replace its fleet of manned attack and armed scout helicopters with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
Specifically, Japan will ostensibly replace its 48 Bell AH-1 Cobras and 12 Boeing/Fuji Heavy Industries AH-64D Apache gunships with three new unmanned platforms.
These new platforms would comprise of ‘attack-utility,’ ‘surveillance,’ and ‘miniature attack’ types. Japan did not provide any additional details about these new platforms.
However, Japan’s developmental work up to this point as well as overseas trends could allude to several potential options ranging from loitering munitions to fixed-wing UAVs to rotary-wing drones.
In any case, shifting to only drones is a significant move. While many other major militaries are aiming to supplement their existing and new manned attack helicopters with drones, none have signalled an intent to shift all the way towards unmanned systems like Japan.
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