With neighboring countries such as China, Russia and North Korea adding hypersonic weapons and artificial intelligence-equipped drones to their already massive arsenals, Japan¡¯s Self-Defense Forces are facing an increasingly complex set of challenges to keep the country safe.
While Japan is known to have robust air defenses, advances in missile and aircraft technology ¡ª such as autonomous drone swarms and ballistic missiles that fly on irregular trajectories at low altitudes ¡ª have complicated and diversified the threat.
To make matters worse, the relatively low cost of mass-producing some of these weapons has raised the possibility of Japan ¡ª as well as U.S. forces in the country ¡ª being on the receiving end of not one, but potentially several saturation attacks that could overwhelm air defenses in the event of a military clash.
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