Israel and Turkey vie for Japanese drone order

Japan’s defense budget grew by 21% in 2024 to about $55.3 billion, but is still low compared to countries like Ukraine, Saudi Arabia and Germany.

Japan has recently been examining procurement of Israel Aerospace Industries Heron Mark II drone, as part of a 1 trillion Yen ($6.3 billion) budget for drone procurement, as reported by the “Defense Blog” website.

Now the “Army Recognition” website reports that Japan is also examining Turkish manufactured drones that are considered just as good technologically but are cheaper. Japan is examining, among other things, the Turkish Kargu suicide drone (loitering munition), as well as models from Spain and Australia.

Japan’s defense budget

Japan is not a significant export market for Israel, primarily due to Tokyo’s relatively low defense budget. Japan’s defense budget grew by 21% in 2024 to about $55.3 billion, but is still low compared to countries like Ukraine, Saudi Arabia and Germany. While NATO recently raised its defense budget target from 2% to 5% of GDP, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani announced this year that Tokyo would only increase its defense budget 2% by 2027.

As for drones, the Japanese have allocated $261 million in the 2025 defense budget to purchase US MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones for maritime reconnaissance missions. At the same time, $20 million is earmarked for the purchase of small attack drones, with which the Japanese want to increase security on the islands in the southwest of the country. The biggest threat from the Japanese point of view, similar to most countries in the Asia-Pacific region, is China, followed by North Korea.

Source: https://www.jpost.com/defense-and-tech/article-864997