The Japanese Ministry of Defense has confirmed to Janes that the Ground Self Defense Force (JGSDF) is moving forward with testing two Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial systems: the Israeli Heron-MkII and the Turkish Bayraktar TB2.
Tests on the former were completed in the fiscal year 2024, while the latter will be completed in 2025. The existence of the Heron-MkII was already documented at Shirahama Airport, in the Wakayama Prefecture, suggesting that the TB2 is also being tested in Japan.
Statements and budget documents clearly show that Tokyo is not favoring the choice of a single model, but rather the mix of platforms with complementary features. The Ministry of Defense has distinguished between multi-role UAVs equipped with not only surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, but also electronic warfare and kinetic strike, and UAVs intended to provide real-time information to front-line units and immediately hit targets.
Such strategy coincides with reporting by Asahi Shimbun and Kyodo News, according to which the government intends to focus on a rapid numerical expansion of the drone fleet, devoting over 1,000 billion yen and favoring quantity over quality.
For the Heron-MkII, with an estimated cost of about ten million dollars, offers a larger platform capable of boarding electro-optical sensors, AESA radar, and a range of pods for electronic warfare, communications intelligence, and relay missions. It’s a high-capacity UAV, ideal for long-duration ISR missions, but with limited or non-existing offensive capabilities.
In contrast, the TB2 has an estimated price of around five million dollars and is about half the size of the Israeli aircraft. Besides its lower payload capacity and restrictions in onboarding simultaneous electro-optical sensors and radar, the Turkish drone compensates with remarkable operational versatility: it can carry laser-guided bombs, anti-tank missiles, guided rockets, and even small cruise missiles. Its effectiveness has been demonstrated in several theaters, from Ukraine to Syria, from Libya to Nagorno-Karabakh.
The economic factor plays a crucial role in Tokyo’s assessments. The TB2, with a unit cost estimated around seven hundred million yen, is considerably more affordable compared to the MQ-9B Reaper, already being acquired for the Maritime Self Defense Force, whose price exceeds one hundred billion yen per unit. This difference lays the groundwork for large-scale acquisition, consistent with the strategy of ensuring numerical superiority in the field of drones. In parallel, other platforms remain under consideration: the Nikkei reported the Japanese’s interest in the Anka from Turkish Aerospace Industries, already adopted by Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as American, British, and Australian models.
In perspective, Japan’s interest in UAVs with different characteristics seems to reflect the need to cover a broad spectrum of missions. The Heron-MkII seems destined to strengthen strategic surveillance and electronic intelligence missions, while the TB2 provides a low-cost solution for quickly acquiring attack capabilities.
