Japan's Defense Ministry is set to open a research institute in Tokyo this October to develop innovative defense technologies that could significantly impact future warfare, drawing on expertise from the private sector, officials said Monday.
The institute, set to be launched with around 100 personnel at the Ebisu Garden Place commercial complex, is modeled after the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, renowned for its leading role in developing technologies like the internet and GPS.
The institute is also adopting an approach similar to that of the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Innovation Unit, which serves as a bridge between the Pentagon and the private sector.
Provisionally called the Defense Innovation Technology Institute, half of the members of the Japanese organization will come from outside the ministry, such as companies and universities.
The ministry plans to hire experts in critical fields, including artificial intelligence, robotics engineering, and elementary particles, as program managers responsible for project design and management.
While working to develop new defense technologies over the coming years, the institute will also focus on "breakthrough research" aimed at deploying new equipment within about three years by maximizing the use of existing technologies.
Practical project examples include developing unmanned vehicles that can autonomously navigate in darkness and a new method for detecting submarines.
The new entity, which will be subordinate to the Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency, will also function as a think tank to monitor global research trends in cutting-edge technologies and manage subsidy programs for studies of dual-use technologies in the private sector that can be applied in both defense and civilian arenas.
In the budget for the current fiscal year that began in April, the government earmarked 21.7 billion yen ($147 million) related to the establishment of the institute.
The establishment of the research organization was stipulated in the National Defense Strategy, compiled in December 2022, with its purpose set at finding "multi-use cutting-edge technologies that contribute to defense equipment development, and to produce equipment that leads to defense innovation."
The strategy is one of Japan's key security documents, which have paved the way for the country's biggest defense buildup since World War II in response to China's rise and North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.
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