UPI:
Nov. 5 (UPI) — Large underwater drones may roam the East China Sea if Japanese plans to deter Chinese vessels near the Senkaku Islands are ratified by Japan’s Cabinet. Tokyo wants to introduce unmanned underwater vehicles into territorial waters in order to step up monitoring activities, Kyodo News reported Monday.
The deployment is part of revisions to the defense ministry’s medium-term defense plan, according to the report. The plan has only been revised four times since 1976, and the medium-term defense plan is drafted every five years.
In 2017, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had called for revisions to the midterm plan in response to North Korea’s missile provocations and Chinese incursions into Japan-claimed waters. Japan’s defense agency is to release its 2019-23 midterm plan in December, according to the report.
