New details have emerged about Tokyo's development of a next-generation amphibious armoured fighting vehicle for the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF).
A Japanese official gave a presentation at the International Armoured Vehicles (IAV) 2019 defence and security conference held in London from 14 to 21 January, and explained that the goal of the programme is to provide an armoured vehicle that is manoeuvrable in coral reefs and the steep terrain that predominate in Japan's remote southern islands.
The programme, which started in 2017 with a series of computer simulations designed to reduce the time and cost spent on research and development, is scheduled to be completed in 2022.
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In the 2001 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress set an objective of increasing the number of remote-controlled and unmanned systems in service with the US Army. The goal was that by 2015 a third of operational ground combat vehicles would be unmanned. However, this goal was not met. Scott Alexander reports
