Hello all,
found this news article on the internet.
TOKYO (January 04 2003) : Japan's Defence Agency is planning to develop a pilotless spy plane to help it track suspicious ships and monitor other countries' military facilities, the regional daily Tokyo Shimbun said on Friday.
The drone would be equipped with cameras, radar and infrared sensors, enabling it to survey military bases on the Korean peninsula from a height of more than 20 km (66,000 feet), the paper said, quoting sources at the agency.
"This is in line with the national policy of a defence-specialised military," the paper quoted a Defence Agency official as saying.
Northrop Grumman Corp of the United States already builds a high-altitude surveillance drone, the RQ-4 Global Hawk, which Australia is interested in buying. Aircraft that fly high can see far and might also be safe from attack.
Analysts see drones as the next big thing in military aviation, because they are expected to conduct some missions more cheaply than a piloted aircraft can. They are particularly suitable for long and possibly risky surveillance missions.
Japanese leaders have said in recent weeks they were considering stepping up efforts to develop a missile-defence shield with the aid of the United States.
Concern over security in Japan has intensified since Pyongyang launched a missile over Japan in 1998 and since a suspected North Korean spy ship sank in the East China Seas after a shoot-out with the Japanese coast guard in December 2001.
The Defence Agency has set aside a budget of 260 million yen for initial studies on the surveillance drone, but the total cost of development is likely to reach 1.9 billion yen ($15.8 million), the paper said.
A Defence Agency spokesman declined to comment on the report.-Reuters
Copyright 2003 Reuters (Published under arrangements with Reuters)
Posts: 31
By: Troy - 7th January 2003 at 11:45
Hello all,
found this news article on the internet.
TOKYO (January 04 2003) : Japan's Defence Agency is planning to develop a pilotless spy plane to help it track suspicious ships and monitor other countries' military facilities, the regional daily Tokyo Shimbun said on Friday.
The drone would be equipped with cameras, radar and infrared sensors, enabling it to survey military bases on the Korean peninsula from a height of more than 20 km (66,000 feet), the paper said, quoting sources at the agency.
"This is in line with the national policy of a defence-specialised military," the paper quoted a Defence Agency official as saying.
Northrop Grumman Corp of the United States already builds a high-altitude surveillance drone, the RQ-4 Global Hawk, which Australia is interested in buying. Aircraft that fly high can see far and might also be safe from attack.
Analysts see drones as the next big thing in military aviation, because they are expected to conduct some missions more cheaply than a piloted aircraft can. They are particularly suitable for long and possibly risky surveillance missions.
Japanese leaders have said in recent weeks they were considering stepping up efforts to develop a missile-defence shield with the aid of the United States.
Concern over security in Japan has intensified since Pyongyang launched a missile over Japan in 1998 and since a suspected North Korean spy ship sank in the East China Seas after a shoot-out with the Japanese coast guard in December 2001.
The Defence Agency has set aside a budget of 260 million yen for initial studies on the surveillance drone, but the total cost of development is likely to reach 1.9 billion yen ($15.8 million), the paper said.
A Defence Agency spokesman declined to comment on the report.-Reuters
Copyright 2003 Reuters (Published under arrangements with Reuters)