The move has triggered warnings that the new drones could be stationed in the Ryukyu chain close to the Chinese coast
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenAlcott Weiin BeijingPublished: 8:00pm, 14 Apr 2026Japan is planning to replace some of its attack helicopters with multipurpose drones, prompting warnings from some Chinese media outlets and analysts that this could be seen as a hostile move.The country’s defence budget, which took effect on April 7 for this financial year, allocates 11.1 billion yen (US$70 million) for the procurement of five wide-area unmanned aerial vehicles.A further 280 billion yen was allocated for research and development into “unmanned asset defence capabilities”.AdvertisementJapanese media outlet J-Defence News said this was the first step towards implementing the Defence Build-Up Programme, which was approved in late 2022.
Under the programme, the military will gradually retire its AH-1S Cobra anti-tank helicopters and AH-64D Apache attack helicopters, transferring their fire support and reconnaissance roles to multipurpose attack drones.
The programme also calls for a dedicated multipurpose drone unit to be set up by 2032.
