OREANDA-NEWS  In the context of Japan's increasing military spending and the course of a number of European automakers towards the production of weapons, Eisaku Ito, CEO of the country's largest defense contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), spoke out against the conversion of automotive enterprises into sites for assembling combat drones. In his opinion, the re-equipment of unprofitable factories is doomed to failure and will lead to inefficient spending of public funds, writes the Financial Times.

Ito stated that the industrial model needed to create unmanned aerial vehicles is fundamentally different. The requirements for such equipment are constantly changing depending on the situation, whereas car factories were originally designed for the mass production of tens of thousands or millions of identical products. The head of MHI warned that the production of drones on such lines could lead to the production of a large volume of rapidly aging equipment. Such a transformation would be a "colossal waste of taxpayers' money."

It is worth recalling that the Japanese Ministry of Defense has doubled the budget for the purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles to $ 1.7 billion for the current fiscal year. The Japanese authorities expect to deploy thousands of drones to cover the southwestern islands near Taiwan as part of the Shield program. Eisaku Ito emphasized that MHI intends to take the position of one of the leading suppliers of such systems. He called the concern's long-term specialization in the small-scale manufacture of complex military equipment a competitive advantage.

Earlier, the German automaker Mercedes-Benz agreed to cooperate with the Munich-based startup Tytan Technologies. Their main project should be the Drone Defender air defense system for use in Ukraine's critical infrastructure, including airport areas.