Progress in battlefield AI, satellite technology and a raft of advanced next generation weapons systems were among the key highlights of Japan’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency’s (ATLA) 2025 Technology Symposium, which was held in Tokyo’s Hotel Grand Hill Ichigaya.
The keystone annual event, which last year was in its 10th iteration, showcases the work of the nation’s premier defence tech procurement/development agency’s research centres: the Air, Ground and Naval Systems research centres, the Future Capabilities Development Center, and the Defense Innovation Science and Technology Institute (DISTI).
The increased participation of commercial entities was a standout feature. Altogether nine corporations attended the Symposium, hosting four of the event’s 18 presentations, while constituting 7 out of the event’s 16 exhibitors. Large firms, this year Softbank Group and IHI Corporation, were again a fixture at the event. However, and in line with the recommendations of the 2022 Defence Buildup Program, 2025 was marked by the presence of tech startups, including the unicorn Sakana AI, spatial information engineering firm LocationMind, and algorithm licencing firm PKSHA Technology.
AI technology was the dominant theme in the seminar, being a focal point in half of the event’s presentations and special seminars. Satellite technology also featured prominently, following growing emphasis on space in the wake of the publication of the 2023 Space Security Initiative and last July’s Space Domain Defence Guidelines.
Yet perhaps the most high profile highlight of the event were updates on progress in advanced next generation weapons system projects. These include project milestones in ATLA’s work on producing a manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) system for the Japan-United Kingdom-Italy jointly-developed Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) next generation fighter, successful tests of a domestic ship-borne railgun, and the near-completion of preparations for the deployment of hypersonic missiles in Hokkaido and Kyushu.
Battlefield Artificial Intelligence
Presentations centred on artificial intelligence-driven technology covered a diverse range of utilisations ranging from fishing net detection, countering misinformation and cyber-defence, to analysing satellite imagery, target vulnerability analysis, and autonomous drone piloting and drone swarming. Yet the most prominent theme was battlefield/tactical applications.
DISTI delivered a presentation outlining its work on an AI-driven system capable of synthesising, filtering and visualising real time information on troop positions and battlefield terrain to assist unit/squad commanders to make informed, rapid and responsive tactical decisions. Distinctive features of this system included linking data from reconnaissance UAVs and wearable sensors to commercial-grade smart phone terminals utilising NATO-compatible software, as well as the presentation of an intuitive, user-friendly visualisation interface that utilises Japanese spacial information tech firm Asia Air Survey Co. Ltd’s proprietary Red Relief Image Map (RRIM) technology – a 3D visualisation model that can present detailed topographical information on a compact single image map.
Another report, delivered by ATLA’s Future Capabilities Development Center’s AI/Cyber Networks Research Division, discussed a project to devise a battlefield AI aid that can help Japanese commanders achieve “command and control loop supremacy.”
The report discussed the role of Japanese officers to train and test an advanced large language model, with the aim of producing an AI aid capable of helping commanders expedite progress through the OODA (observe, orient, decide and act) loop. Key functions overviewed in the presentation included the use of AI to synthesise and analyse battlefield information, plot routes/courses of action, and automatically wargame tactical options. A selection of viable options would then be presented in a digestible format to commanders via a mobile interface terminal, with each option accompanied with informed predictions on mission success probability, tactical impact, and attrition.
Wargaming was also a key theme in a presentation on the results of the Air Systems Research Centres’s novel “Air Combat AI Challenge” – one of the principle projects being undertaken to prepare to team GCAP fighters with AI-driven air-to-air combat-capable UAVs.
The series of competitions, which were open to all members of the public, pitted competing AI combat decision making models against each other in a series of five computer-simulated air-to-air combat scenarios – the last, and most complicated, involving formations of five-aircraft and one escort aircraft. The aim of the challenge was to pool a large volume of simulation data to train an AI system whose combat decision making capabilities are “the same as or better than a [trained] human pilot.”
According to the presentation, the competitions were highly successful, attracting over 4,000 participants, with winning candidates submitting 3600 decision making algorithms to the ATLA database. The presenter announced that the centre is moving forward with work to further refine the air-combat AI system to ready it for a real test flight combat trial in which the AI system will be pitted against human pilots. All tests are scheduled to be completed before 2035 – the year in which the GCAP fighter is forecast to become operation.
Satellite technology
Cutting edge satellite technology was another prominent theme in the 2025 seminar, with several presentations delivered by external entities including private firms.
Among them, the state funded RIKEN research institute’s Centre for Advanced Electronics revealed research on the use of a satellite-fitted laser to alter the orbit and remove the threat of space debris – a technology with potential space warfare applications.
Geospatial AI startup LocationMind discussed its work to prevent Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) spoofing via the development of a radio frequency (RF) fingerprinting – a system through which data will be embedded with unique and difficult to replicate signal sender identifiers including information on manufacturing characteristics, device type, etc.
AI was again a theme in Japanese engineering giant IHI Corporation’s presentation on cutting edge satellite data integration technology. The report – one of the highest profile among corporate contributors to the seminar – discussed IHI’s progress on using AI to synthesise data from multiple satellites equipped with different sensors (i.e., SAR, AIS/VDES, optics, mid-infrared etc) that are observing a single location. The presentation unveiled how integrating information from satellites that give different information and work under different conditions could allow for continuous and more comprehensive intelligence on a theatre of operation. Examples of specific utilities of the technology included identifying dark ships through matching locations featuring an RF signal but no corresponding VDES signal.
Advanced weapons systems
One of the highlight of the event was updates on the progress of several well publicised weapons development projects.
A report from the Air Systems Research Centre displayed a video presentation of a successful series of test flights undertaken in late 2025 featuring a manned helicopter teamed with up to five Subaru semi-autonomous combat support drones operating in tandem.
The tests were part of the development of a MUM-T capability for Japan’s GCAP fighters.
Pictures presented in the report revealed the evolving design for a pilot interface system for teamed UAV control that minimises pilot workload, which during the test including a headset for issuing voice commands, and an augmented reality (AR) visor for tracking the assets in real time – both of which were linked to a tablet-sized mounted operating terminal.
The last presentation of the event’s first day was an update from the Ground Systems Research Centre on successful live fire tests from an experimental, ship-mounted railgun, which were undertaken in 2024/2025 in cooperation with the Maritime Staff Office and Naval Systems Development Division.
During the tests an 8 tonne, ship-mounted railgun, powered by four 20 ft containers that produced 5 megajoules of energy, propelled a 40mm round at over 2300 metres per second – more than double the velocity of the BEA Systems AB Bofors 40 Mk4 40mm naval gun system currently being used by Japan’s coast guard. The test fire resulted in successful strikes of a towed target vessel.
The test was described in the presentation as providing important data for understanding the railgun’s projectiles’ “transient and airborne ballistic characteristics” as well as “useful insights for future research.”
A presentation from ATLA’s Joint Systems Development Division revealed that both flight and transport/installation tests on the Mitsubishi Heavy Industry-manufactured Block I Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectile (HVGP) have been successful, paving the way for the hypersonic missiles to be deployed in Japan’s northern Hokkaido and southern Kyushu islands on schedule as early as this year.
The HVGP is a solid-propellant surface-to-surface hypersonic ballistic missile with a theoretical range of up to 500 km. The progress report included video presentations of two successful test launches, both of which were carried out in the United States, and photographic images of missile and launcher systems being transported via air, sea, and across rugged terrain, in weather conditions including heavy snow.