Japan’s Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, who arrived in Türkiye today for an official visit, met with Türkiye’s Defense Minister Yaşar Güler.
Nakatani is expected to visit TUSAŞ in Ankara today, and BAYKAR along with the Istanbul Naval Shipyard Command tomorrow.
Japan has long been working on deploying drones on its Izumo-class destroyers (in fact, LHDs). It is thought that the minister’s aim in Türkiye is both to tour the TCG Anadolu and learn about drone operations from LHDs, as well as to gather information about BAYKAR and TUSAŞ drones capable of operating from such vessels.
International media claim that in Japan’s procurement process for large shipborne drones, the only competitor to Turkish companies is the U.S.-made MQ-9.
