▲ Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2 fighter jet
The Japanese government, seeking to bolster its defense capabilities, is ramping up efforts to secure leadership in AI-utilized command and control systems and strengthen the cybersecurity of defense equipment.
According to local media on August 10, Japan's Ministry of Defense is pursuing a plan to utilize AI models from the United States—an ally with world-class AI technology—across multiple defense systems, while entrusting the most critical command-tower functions to an AI model developed by a Japanese company.
This is interpreted as a strategy to enhance the operational responsiveness of AI by utilizing cutting-edge U.S. models while reinforcing sovereignty through domestic AI to prevent sensitive information such as military secrets from leaking to overseas AI developers or compromising national sovereignty.
The domestic AI to be adopted by the Japan Ministry of Defense is reportedly likely to be "Fugu," a multi-agent command system developed by Sakana AI, a representative Japanese unicorn startup.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that although Sakana AI has previously utilized Chinese open-source AI models in developing Fugu, it plans to exclude the use of Chinese models for the AI service to be provided to the defense sector and limit the composition of the development team to Japanese nationals.
The Japanese government also plans to establish AI data centers related to national classified information, such as defense, within Japan.
The Japan Self-Defense Forces are pushing to equip individual pieces of equipment—such as drones, manned fighter jets, lasers, and robots—with software that detects and blocks cyber attacks in advance, and plan to utilize products from a Japanese company holding Internet of Things (IoT) security technology.
The Japanese government has also begun building an active cyber defense network to prevent damage in advance by responding to cyber attacks that could be launched by cutting-edge AI models, such as Anthropic's Claude Mythos.
Advanced AI will be used for measures to access the attacker's server and eliminate threats. The National Cyber Coordination Office (NCO) will oversee this, with actual defense operations reportedly planned to begin in October.
Meanwhile, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) reported that NEC, Japan's largest IT equipment company, recently established an unmanned department consisting solely of AI agents.
The plan is for 17 AI agents to handle management and task execution just like humans, driving business automation.
(Photo provided by Japan Air Self-Defense Force, Yonhap News)
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