Japan’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency (ATLA), a department within Japan’s Ministry of Defence responsible for advanced and emerging technology procurement, recently announced an open competitive tender for the provision of a proof of concept for a ship-launched UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle).
Bidding will be held at ATLA’s Bidding Room at the Ministry of Defence’s Building D in Shinjuku at 1030 on 14 May, with applications via the Japanese government’s centralised Procurement Portal (GEPS) open between 7 and 13 May.
Specification details and the specification document, both of which are subject to information security provisions, can be accessed by qualified parties via ATLA’s Department of Procurement Operations’ Aircraft Procurement Office. Bidding is restricted to companies that have attained a Unified Supplier Qualification ranking of A, B or C – a ranking based on factors including business capital and earnings.
The ATLA tender is in line with Ministry of Defence plans to expand the role of unmanned assets. It also comes on the back of growing concerns that Japan’s maritime UAV capabilities are behind those of its neighbours, with some apportioning blame to drone procurement inefficiencies in Japan’s Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF).
Japan’s Cabinet-approved late 2022 National Defence Strategy called for the expanded use of unmanned assets to reduce costs and minimise casualties, stating that their combined use with AI ‘can be a game-changer... enabling Japan to gain asymmetrical advantages’. These priorities were reflected in the concurrently released Defense Buildup Program, and were reinforced in last December’s Ministry of Defence 2025 Outline of Budgetary Appropriation Requests.
Ship launched assets in particular have received growing attention in recent months, following increased emphasis on the security of the nation’s Ryukyu Island chain, which would be more exposed in the event of a Taiwan contingency.
During the Japan International Aerospace Exhibition in mid-October 2024 General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) displayed a rendering of its Gambit 5 drone being launched from an Izumo-class helicopter carrier, now being modified to accommodate Lockheed Martin F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) multirole combat aircraft.
In January the JMSDF announced that it had agreed to purchase an undisclosed number of V-BAT intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) drones from US firm Shield AI, in what the company has touted as Japan’s navy’s first ship-launched ISR platform.
That announcement came in the wake of scrutiny of the JSMDF’s decision in early December to procure 23 MQ-9B SeaGuardian surveillance drones from GA-ASI without having decided on their base location or payload.
Criticisms of the JMSDF’s drone procurement procedures were voiced elsewhere in the leadup to the ATLA tender offer. In late December Shinichi Kiyotani, a prominent Japanese defence writer, claimed that the navy’s slow acquisition time-frames risked it being saddled with obsolete technology, that an absence of manufacturer contracts risked cancellations due to production discontinuation, and that an unwillingness to package training, parts and payload could result in new systems being retrofitted with legacy payloads. He claimed that such factors had contributed to the JMSDF becoming a maritime UAV “backwater”.
Concerns that Japan’s maritime drone capacity has fallen behind have been amplified by recent developments among Japan’s neighbours. South Korea’s launched a General Atomics MC-1Q Gray Eagle multipurpose UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System) from a Dokdo-class amphibious assault ship in November.
China has become a leading exporter of combat drones, and in January a Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) source confirmed that China’s Sichuan-class amphibious assault ship will serve as a drone carrier, with experts predicting that it will carry Hongdu GJ-11 Sharp Sword unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV).
In early March Japan’s Ministry of Defence stated that 2021-2024 saw a 700 per cent rise in JASDF assets scrambling to respond to Chinese drone incursions near the Ryukyu Islands.
ATLA was formed in 2015 to advance technological superiority by expediting acquisitions of advanced military and dual use technology, and implementing a full life-cycle approach to scheduling, cost and performance management.
In line with the priorities set out in the 2025 Outline of Budgetary Appropriation Requests, the last few months have seen the Agency make a number of drone-related announcements, including a 12 billion yen ($135 million) deal with the US Air Force for a contractor logistics support (CLS) package for long-endurance UAVs, a $170 million (roughly $1.9 million) deal with Japan’s ACSL to secure SOTEN light aerial photography drones, a competitive tender for research and prototype development on vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone technology, and scoping studies for uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUV) and surface drones.