Japan advances autonomous amphibious island-defence capability

A conceptual representation of ATLA's unmanned amphibious vehicle. (ATLA)

Japan has developed a full-scale prototype of its future unmanned amphibious vehicle, a spokesperson for the country's Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency (ATLA) told Janes on 9 July.

The prototype development follows ATLA's Future Amphibious Technology Research (FAT-R) programme, which the organisation concluded in 2023. “The technologies and knowledge gained through the [FAT-R] programme are currently being applied to the development of the unmanned amphibious vehicle,” the spokesperson said.

“The unmanned amphibious vehicle currently under development is expected to be capable of autonomous manoeuvring, as well as remote-controlled manoeuvring and firepower employment,” the spokesperson added, but did not disclose the level of autonomy demonstrated by the prototype.

According to the spokesperson, the technical challenges addressed during the programme included littoral manoeuvrability, increasing maritime mobility speed, and enhancing crew safety.

While ATLA did not disclose the performance requirements of the FAT-R programme, the spokesperson said testing using simulation models, scale models, and a full-scale prototype confirmed that “all performance requirements were successfully met”.

“Among the… technical challenges in the FAT-R programme, the gained technologies and knowledge related to enhanced littoral manoeuvrability and crew safety are especially being applied to the development of the unmanned amphibious vehicle,” the spokesperson added.

The programme to develop an unmanned amphibious vehicle began in 2024. Japan's 2025 defence white paper said the unmanned amphibious vehicle would “act autonomously in amphibious operations and perform missions, including transportation of supplies from the sea to the vicinity of troops”.

Japan intends for the unmanned amphibious vehicle to traverse coral reef ridges and land at any location across its remote islands.

For more, please see: Special Report: Japan seeks unmanned platforms for littoral defence network