TOKYO, October 2. /TASS/. Tokyo will purchase drones manufactured by Ukrainian company Skyfall on a trial basis, Kyodo news agency reported, citing Itsunori Onodera, a former defense minister and senior member of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), who visited Kiev.
Tokyo plans to assess the capabilities of the UAVs. The Japanese side is also considering the possibility of adopting Ukrainian attack drones for use by the Self-Defense Forces.
During his visit to Ukraine, Onodera, who coordinates work within the LDP on revising three key defense policy documents, including the National Security Strategy, gathered information on the experience of modern warfare. He intends to share this information during intra-party discussions, Kyodo reported.
On December 16, 2022, the Japanese government approved a new national security strategy. In particular, it recognizes Japan’s right to launch counterstrikes against targets on the territory of a potential adversary. At the same time, the document stresses that preemptive strikes are not permitted. The strategy also called for increasing military spending to 2% of GDP by 2027, following NATO’s model, but Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has already promised that this goal will be achieved ahead of schedule. To acquire counterstrike capabilities, the Japanese government plans to increase the range of its existing Type 12 missiles, develop its own hypersonic weapons, and purchase American Tomahawk cruise missiles. Almost immediately after being elected prime minister, Takaichi ordered a review of key security documents, including the national security strategy, citing the serious security situation in the world and in the region surrounding Japan.