Japan's MSDF fields six V-BAT drones for shipborne surveillance

Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force now operates six V-BAT uncrewed reconnaissance aircraft built by the US firm Shield AI, officials told Jiji Press in a report published on 5 October. The service has fielded the vertical take-off drones to widen the surveillance reach of its warships while reducing the number of sailors needed for routine patrol work.

Shield AI announced in January 2025 that the MSDF had chosen the V-BAT as its first ship-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drone. The 5 October report said the service now operates the six aircraft it paid for under that programme.

According to Jiji, the aircraft can fly a pre-programmed patrol route on its own and stream video back to a command ship as it goes. It carries an infrared camera in the nose, spans about 3.8 metres and can stay aloft for roughly 12 hours. When not flying it can be folded and stowed aboard a destroyer, and because it launches and lands vertically it needs no runway, only a small patch of flight deck.

Cost is a large part of the case for the drone. The MSDF set aside about 4 billion yen in its fiscal 2025 budget for the six aircraft, or roughly 600 million yen each, according to the Jiji report. That compares with about 11 billion yen for an SH-60L, the newest MSDF patrol helicopter. An MSDF member told the agency that drones let crews carry out missions more cheaply than helicopters and lighten the load on personnel.

From deck trials to training

The fielding follows several months of trials. The MSDF surface fleet released video on 3 June of shipboard tests carried out in late May on the flight deck of an Asagiri-class destroyer, Norimono News reported at the time.

Between 29 June and 1 July the service showed reporters two V-BATs flying from the Mogami-class escort ship Kumano in Sagami Bay, the first time the type had operated from that class, J-Defense News reported. The magazine said a team of as few as four people can run the system, the aircraft needs a landing area about four metres square, cruises at around 100 kilometres per hour and burns the same JP-5 fuel as shipborne helicopters.

Operator training began in August at Ominato Air Base in Aomori Prefecture. The MSDF plans to embark the drones on its new Sakura-class patrol vessels, which are due to enter service from 2027, to strengthen monitoring of the waters around Japan.

Norimono News reported that the MSDF is buying the upgraded Block B version, which can be fitted with a small precision-guided munition. The outlet said the service envisages possible attacks on enemy vessels in an emergency, in addition to the drone's surveillance role.

Part of a wider uncrewed push

Jiji tied the deployment to the new ways of warfare described in Japan's 2026 defence white paper, under which the Defence Ministry wants uncrewed systems to give it a cost advantage over potential adversaries. In April the Ground Self-Defense Force set up two offices for uncrewed systems, one for research and development and one for procurement and maintenance. The fiscal 2026 budget earmarks about 100 billion yen for a layered coastal defence network known as SHIELD, due by fiscal 2027, that will combine drones with uncrewed surface and underwater vessels.

The shift carries risks. An Air Self-Defense Force Global Hawk crashed off Tottori Prefecture on 15 September after its automatic emergency landing function apparently failed, Jiji reported. A senior ministry official told the agency the accident would be treated as a lesson but that the move towards uncrewed aircraft was likely to continue.

The V-BAT is already in use with US forces under the designation MQ-35A and has been adopted by the Netherlands, India and Poland, J-Defense News said. Jiji, citing Shield AI and other sources, reported that Ukrainian forces had flown at least 130 sorties with it as of April 2025.