Among the most terrifying weapons during World War II (WW2) were the Kamikaze suicide planes used by Japan in the Pacific theater. Japanese pilots sacrificed themselves by crashing planes filled with explosives onto the decks of US Navy ships. It is estimated that up to 120 ships were successfully sunk using this attack.
Almost 81 years after the end of WW2, Japan is now reportedly interested in reviving the use of kamikazes but in the form of drones and weapons that can hover in the air before attacking the enemy.
The use of drones by Ukraine, Russia and Iran shows how this cheap weapon is not only effective in causing great destruction but can also avoid detection by conventional radar systems. Iran and Ukraine respectively used drones to destroy fleets of bombers, tankers and radar planes belonging to Russia and the United States.
Japan's kamikaze drones will have an operational range of around 1000 km to allow them to attack China or North Korea if war breaks out. They need to be launched from aircraft and even submarines. Existing aircraft components will be used to develop kamikaze drones to reduce costs. It will also make it easier to produce them in large numbers in a short period of time.
The Iranian Shahed drones are produced in large numbers with their launchers being mobile vehicles. It is difficult for the US to track where they are launched from and therefore difficult to destroy.
The Shahed proved effective, and the US developed the FLM-136 (Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System) drone, which is a pirated Shahed that was completely copied to attack Iran in the ongoing war. At only $35,000 each, it is much cheaper than missiles that cost millions of dollars.
