The Japanese Ministry of Defense allocated funding for the development of a universal 155mm gun system to combat attack drones.

The corresponding document was published on the official website of the Ministry of Defense of Japan.

The development will enhance Japan’s layered air defense capabilities as it rethinks the direction of its air defense systems development.

First of all, the Ministry of Defense of Japan, studying the war in Ukraine in detail, came to the conclusion that Japan needs weapons to intercept mass raids of attack drones.

The new 155mm gun module should, in the future, provide Japan with a modern means to detect small-sized air targets and effectively defeat them.

One of the main criteria for development is the low cost of firing, which should be less than that of missile SAMs. This will allow Japan to create sufficient reserves of shells with radio detectors.

Currently, the main problem of development has been raised, namely the creation of certain algorithms for the effective destruction of drones at long ranges and short distances, which should be from 5 to 15 km.

As part of the developed project, the universal 155mm gun should be installed in an unmanned module, where an optical detection station will be additionally installed, and the gun will be loaded due to an automatic loading system.

The platform on which the module is intended to be installed will be a lightweight chassis developed based on the Type 89 infantry fighting vehicle. This chassis was also used as the basis for developing the Type 99 155mm self-propelled gun.

It should be noted that today Japan has a limited number of anti-aircraft guns, which are Type 87 systems with two 35mm automatic guns. These systems are used only by the 7th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment of the Northern Army for the defense of the Hokkaido base.

Previously, Militarnyi reported that the Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) would cooperate with European companies from France and Germany to develop railguns.

Currently, the main direction of development is aimed at creating a system that will be used in the future from the sea platforms of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces.