{"id":43451,"date":"2026-06-29T20:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T20:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/43451\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T20:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T20:52:18","slug":"airbus-kawasaki-explore-japanese-eurodrone-anti-submarine-variant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/43451\/","title":{"rendered":"Airbus, Kawasaki Explore Japanese Eurodrone Anti-Submarine Variant"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/dronefront.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">&#13;<br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781197179_626_WhatsAppVideo2026-05-15at09.23.58.gif\" alt=\"The Drone Front\" width=\"1280\" height=\"539\"\/>&#13;<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Airbus has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airbus.com\/en\/newsroom\/press-releases\/2026-06-airbus-signs-memorandum-of-understanding-to-explore-japanese-anti-submarine-variant-of-the-eurodrone\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">signed<\/a> an agreement with Kawasaki Heavy Industries to explore the development of a Japanese anti-submarine warfare variant of the U950 Eurodrone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Japan has held observer status in the <a href=\"https:\/\/thedefensepost.com\/?s=Eurodrone\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">multinational Eurodrone program<\/a> since 2023, reflecting its interest in the platform. The unmanned aircraft is scheduled to make its first flight in 2029.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As part of the agreement, Airbus and Kawasaki will study the design and development of a Japanese maritime variant of the Eurodrone, including the integration of Japanese sensors and weapons and industrial participation in production and sustainment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The effort aims to ensure Tokyo can operate the platform independently if it decides to acquire it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eurodrone\u2019s long range and extended endurance make it well-suited for maritime surveillance, while its greater payload capacity allows it to carry anti-submarine warfare systems such as sonobuoys and torpedoes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Airbus, the platform could complement Japan\u2019s existing crewed anti-submarine warfare fleet with an efficient uncrewed capability, strengthening the country\u2019s maritime security in a sovereign and sustainable manner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The collaboration could also strengthen European-Japanese defense cooperation and benefit future European naval variants of the Eurodrone, Airbus said.<\/p>\n<p>Eurodrone<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Launched in 2016, the Eurodrone program brings together France, Germany, Italy, and Spain to develop a next-generation medium-altitude, long-endurance remotely piloted aircraft system.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The project aims to reduce Europe\u2019s reliance on non-European platforms such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/thedefensepost.com\/2025\/11\/26\/mq9-reaper-drone-guide\/\" type=\"post\" id=\"115903\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">US-made MQ-9B<\/a> and is being developed by Airbus, Dassault Aviation, and Leonardo. Japan and <a href=\"https:\/\/thedefensepost.com\/2025\/01\/22\/india-joins-eurodrone-program\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">India hold observer status<\/a> in the program.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Designed for missions including intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance, early warning, signals intelligence, maritime patrol, and anti-submarine warfare, the Eurodrone can carry mission payloads of up to 2.3 tonnes and remain airborne for up to 40 hours.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The aircraft is also designed to operate in civilian airspace and over open waters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; Airbus has signed an agreement with Kawasaki Heavy Industries to explore the development of a Japanese&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13021],"tags":[4616,796,4661,558,29228],"class_list":["post-43451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-airbus","tag-airbus","tag-drones","tag-eurodrone","tag-japan","tag-kawasaki-heavy-industries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}