Japan developing AI, satellite-based surveillance system to track foreign ships in its waters
- The new system, expected to be deployed in 2024, will scan Japan’s vast exclusive economic zone and flag any suspicious activity to the coastguard
- The technology will allow it to better monitor the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku islands, illegal fishing activity and North Korean ‘sanctions-busting’ vessels
The government is earmarking an initial 450 million yen (US$4.1 million) for the project under the third supplementary budget for fiscal 2020, with technology companies being invited to submit proposals for the system.
An analyst said Tokyo is finding it difficult to keep track of the vessels illegally entering its vast ocean territories.
“Japan’s resources are badly overstretched because it has such a huge amount of water to cover,” said Garren Mulloy, a professor of international relations at Daito Bunka University.
Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) covers more than 1.47 million square kilometres of the Pacific and is the eighth largest in the world. Its ocean territories are over 11 times the land area of the country.
“If they attempted to cover that much open ocean with patrol ships, aircraft, or even satellites or drones, it would be incredibly difficult and not a very efficient use of resources,” he told This Week in Asia.