{"id":69688,"date":"2026-08-06T02:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T02:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/69688\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T02:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T02:35:09","slug":"tokyo-plans-to-produce-eighty-thousand-drones-annually-by-2030","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/69688\/","title":{"rendered":"Tokyo plans to produce eighty thousand drones annually by 2030."},"content":{"rendered":"

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.<\/p>\n

\"Soldiers<\/p>\n

Credit: Artur Widak\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Japan ramps up drone production to reduce dependence on Chinese manufacturers<\/p>\n

Defense startups are shifting from civilian projects into military drone manufacturing rapidly<\/p>\n

Japan dramatically increases funding for interceptor drones and autonomous defense systems<\/p>\n

Japan’s drive toward large-scale drone manufacturing has gained fresh urgency, as a growing cluster of startups, including Eams Robotics and Terra Drone, are now shifting from civilian projects toward defense-oriented drone production.<\/p>\n

A report from Nikkei Asia<\/a> said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi seeks to reduce the country’s reliance on Chinese suppliers.<\/p>\n

Chinese firms currently hold about 90% of the global industrial drone market, a dominance Tokyo now views as a strategic vulnerability worth addressing.<\/p>\n

Startups pivot from civilian work<\/p>\n

Eams Robotics began in 2016 as an aerial photography company serving television broadcasters before moving into drone<\/a> manufacturing two years later.<\/p>\n

The company, based in Minamisoma, has since worked with Sagawa Express, the University of Tokyo, and NTT DoCoMo on autonomous flight systems.<\/p>\n

In December 2025, the company flew a fully autonomous drone across an active railway line without a ground observer present.<\/p>\n

It now reportedly aims to partner with the American defense firm Anduril, mirroring a wider shift taking place across the industry.<\/p>\n

Terra Drone, the more defense-focused of the two firms, is launching mass production of Japan-made batteries for defense and industrial customers.<\/p>\n

Batteries account for more than a quarter of a drone’s cost, and Japan currently lacks a domestic supplier able to meet defense-grade demands.<\/p>\n

Budget and battlefield pressure build<\/p>\n

Japan’s budget for unmanned defense systems jumped this year to 277 billion yen (~$1.72 billion), up from 111 billion yen (v$705 million) in 2025.<\/p>\n

Its total defense spending is also set to rise to 3.5% of GDP, a shift expected to channel further investment into unmanned systems.<\/p>\n

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party approved a plan on June 9 to produce roughly 80,000 drones annually by 2030, though funding details remain sketchy.<\/p>\n

Japan’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency (ATLA), the defense ministry’s procurement arm, has scheduled demonstrations next month, aiming to fast-track acquisition and deployment of interceptor drones near radar sites and bases.<\/p>\n

These systems are meant to counter long-range suicide drones such as the Shahed-136, which have flown as far as 1,100 miles in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

The push for domestic production comes as reports surface that Tomahawk missile deliveries to Japan could face delays, after the 38-day U.S. campaign against Iran strained the U.S stockpiles.<\/p>\n

Defense officials in both Washington and Tokyo have denied any disruption, though Japan’s defense minister said domestic missile development will continue.<\/p>\n

Unconfirmed reports suggest Anduril has discussed converting Nissan’s Oppama plant into a drone production site, amid concerns over a possible Taiwan Strait conflict.<\/p>\n

This fits into Japan’s wider five-year military buildup, set to wrap up in 2027, which also covers missile networks and unmanned ground and maritime systems.<\/p>\n

Terra Drone CEO Toru Tokushige described interest from Japan’s defense ministry as “very much positive,” citing lessons drawn from Ukraine’s battlefield experience.<\/p>\n

However, whether that optimism will eventually translate into real, battle-tested capability against long-range drone threats remains genuinely uncertain.<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1468,45078,45079,8,45080,52,3720,7472],"class_list":["post-69688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tokyo","tag-defense-ministry","tag-defense-systems","tag-eams-robotics","tag-japan","tag-military-drone","tag-tokyo","tag-university-of-tokyo","tag-unmanned-systems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}