Japanese government pledges support for DSEI Japan

The Japanese Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs, and the Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency have officially given their backing to the country’s first fully integrated defence event, DSEI Japan, taking place from 18-20 November.

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defence have confirmed their official support for the first DSEI Japan. The exhibition and conference, which will be staged at Makuhari Messe, will examine the challenges of delivering security in Asia and its surrounding waters in the current climate.

As we head into the new Imperial Era of ‘Reiwa’, Japan is looking ahead to its future, going into a rapidly changing world, with defence playing a role in the future of Japan and its economy. Combined with the likelihood of major trade talks with the US taking place over the coming weeks, this serves to emphasise Japan’s role as a major player in world trade.

It is against this backdrop that DSEI will be held in Japan for the first time, taking place two months after the 20thedition of DSEI, London. It falls after the Japanese defence budget was increased to record highs of $46billion as part of the renovation of their military forces, bringing them in line with regional capabilities.

The inaugural DSEI Japan conference will place significant focus on how best to deploy new and emerging technologies including updates on regional defensive and offensive capabilities, existing countermeasures and the effect of cyber, data and autonomous systems on the future of warfare strategies.

The four main themes of the conference will be:

• Combatting threats of the new era: measures against space, cyber, and electronic warfare
• Responding to airborne threats: strengthening air and missile defence capability
• The freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region: maintaining and enhancing free and open maritime order
• Technologies and overseas transfer of defence equipment

The call for papers is now open and the conference committee are seeking speakers to discuss these key themes, in addition recent or proposed experiments with commercially available or novel technologies. Submissions will be accepted in both English and Japanese and translators will be available throughout the conference. https://www.dsei-japan.com/exhibiting/call-for-papers.