Japanese Navy to accelerate deployment of unmanned weapons — Patrushev

MOSCOW, April 13. /TASS/. A special unit to coordinate the accelerated deployment of unmanned weapons and systems in the Navy will be created in Japan in April of this year, Russian Presidential Aide and Maritime Board Chairman Nikolay Patrushev said in an interview with the Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily. The Maritime Board chief noted that Japan is once again turning into an aggressive military-political player, and the country’s navy is no longer a self-defense force. "The Japanese Ministry of Defense has decided to create a special unit in April of this year to coordinate the accelerated deployment of unmanned weapons and systems based on artificial intelligence in the Navy," Patrushev said. Furthermore, the Japanese naval forces are annually being strengthened with increasingly sophisticated submarines. "The last of them are equipped with Type 18 heavy torpedoes and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. In the future, the Taigei-class submarines will be equipped with cruise missiles with a maximum range of about 1,500 kilometers," the Maritime Board head noted. Patrushev also said that Japan has currently begun deploying long-range missile systems and is continuing work on adapting laser weapons for use on surface ships.