At the end of August 2025, the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) released its preliminary budget request for fiscal 2026. The request revealed plans to procure four additional unmanned aircraft for maritime surveillance of Japan’s surrounding waters.
The budget documents do not specify a model name, but based on past developments this is believed to refer to the MQ-9B SeaGuardian. The JCG began examining the introduction of the MQ-9B as part of efforts to strengthen maritime monitoring capability using new technologies, in line with the “Policy on Strengthening the Japan Coast Guard System” adopted at the inter-ministerial meeting on coast guard reinforcement in 2016. From 2020 the JCG conducted flight demonstrations of the MQ-9B at Hachinohe Airfield (operated by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force) in northern Japan, verifying safety and concluding that the platform would enable more effective and efficient coast guard operations. The decision to acquire the type was made in 2022.
The MQ-9B offers endurance in excess of 24 hours, enabling wide-area, day-and-night intelligence collection. Its high-performance electro-optical and infrared cameras can capture fine details of vessels and other targets, delivering both greater quantity and quality of information compared with the aircraft the JCG has operated to date. Another major advantage is the ability to share collected imagery and other information with headquarters and other units in real time, continuously and reliably, which supports more accurate situational awareness and faster decision-making.
Currently the JCG operates three MQ-9Bs. Those aircraft were initially obtained under lease contracts to permit rapid commencement of operations, but all three have since been purchased outright. Regarding operating bases, the MQ-9B flights were originally based at Hachinohe Airfield; however, the site-lease agreement with the Maritime Self-Defense Force ended in March 2025. To meet surveillance demands — including those related to the Senkaku Islands situation — the JCG now operates the aircraft from Kitakyushu Airport in southern Japan.
Two additional MQ-9Bs are scheduled to be deployed by March 2026. Including the aircraft requested in the current preliminary budget, the JCG will hold a total of nine MQ-9Bs by fiscal 2028. All of these airframes are planned to be acquisitions (purchases), not leases.
