Mitsubishi Heavy Industries CEO Eisaku Ito has criticized the idea of converting car plants to produce military drones, calling it an inefficient use of taxpayer money and warning that such a strategy would likely fail. He emphasized the significant differences between car and drone manufacturing, noting that drone specifications frequently change, unlike the high-volume production of automobiles. Japan's defense ministry is increasing its procurement budget for unmanned vehicles, prompting interest from foreign and domestic companies to enter the market. Ito believes Mitsubishi is well positioned to lead Japan’s drone efforts, citing their ability to manage diverse military production. The company has recently developed a drone prototype capable of targeting enemy drones and aims to expand its defense business amidst rising defense spending.

Accessibility help Skip to navigation Skip to main content Skip to footer

Add to myFT

Get instant alerts for this topic

Manage your delivery channels here Remove from myFT

Converting car plants to make military drones will fail, warns Japan defence titan

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries chief says tactic risks being ‘enormous waste’ of taxpayers’ money

Eisaku Ito stands in a hallway at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters, wearing a suit and striped tie, looking at the camera. Chief executive Eisaku Ito is planning a major role for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan’s drone push© Shoko Takayasu/Bloomberg

Harry Dempsey in Tokyo

PublishedJuly 6 2026

Jump to comments section Print this page

Stay informed with free updates

Simply sign up to the Japanese business & finance myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox.

Converting struggling car factories into production sites for military drones would fail and waste taxpayers’ money, Japan’s largest defence contractor has warned.

Japan’s defence ministry has triggered a frenzy among foreign drone producers and local start-ups trying to break into the domestic market after almost trebling the procurement budget for unmanned vehicles to ¥277bn ($1.7bn) for this financial year.

Eisaku Ito, chief executive of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, said he was plotting a major role for the industrial group in Japan’s drone push but criticised plans to convert idle factories because of the stark differences between car and drone production.

“Honestly, I felt like such comments were made by people who don’t really understand this,” he said. “Products in this field change their specifications constantly depending on the situation. Automobile factories, by contrast, are designed to manufacture tens of thousands or millions of the same units.”

Several European carmakers are pushing forward with overhauling car production lines into drone and missile component factories in a bid to exploit plants that are below maximum capacity or face closure.

Under the encouragement of the French government, Renault has signed deals to partner with French aeronautics group Turgis Gaillard, followed by defence company Thales, to produce drones at its factories.

Volkswagen is in talks with the Israeli maker of the Iron Dome air defence system about a possible partnership, while Mercedes-Benz is tying up with Tytan Technologies to manufacture drones.

Ito said “it would be a terrible idea to use factories like the ones used for automobiles” to make drones for military use, and warned of the risk of producing large numbers of unusable, out-of-date products.

“If that was to be done, then it would end up being an enormous waste of taxpayers’ money. I don’t think we can afford to do that,” he said.

Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russia by using cheap drones, Japan wants to deploy them at scale to gain an asymmetric advantage against potential future adversaries such as China. At the centre of its plans is the Shield coastal defence programme to deploy thousands of drones to protect the country’s south-westerly islands near Taiwan.

Ito believed that the conglomerate’s drone business would grow to a “considerable scale”. The company could become Japan’s premier drone supplier because it specialised in producing low volumes with high levels of variation, he said.

The defence ministry would want Japan to develop and make some drones without international partners because of data security concerns, Ito said, giving MHI an advantage. “We’re the only company in Japan that can handle this comprehensively,” he said, referring to its ability to produce military kit covering sea, land and air.

In just three months MHI recently developed an interceptor drone prototype that can take out enemy unmanned aerial vehicles, drawing on its expertise in satellites, command and control systems and submarines.

The Japanese conglomerate, whose share price has jumped 50 per cent since Ito took over 15 months ago, is basking in a generational boom for defence spending and gas turbines related to AI.

Ito is tasked with delivering on a backlog that is expected to exceed ¥15tn ($93bn), through production expansions that include doubling gas turbine output. He also wants to show that MHI’s conglomerate structure spanning hundreds of technologies can be a strength by creating new products such as drones.

Even if the AI data centre investment turns out to be a bubble that bursts, Ito argued that the gas turbine order boom would persist because of the need to replace units at ageing power plants, the switch from coal to gas and their role in helping to absorb the volatility of renewable energy output.

Reuse this content(opens in new window) CommentsJump to comments section

Follow the topics in this article

Japanese politics & policy

Add to myFT

Aerospace & Defence

Add to myFT

Japanese business & finance

Add to myFT

Drones

Add to myFT

Asia-Pacific companies

Add to myFT

Comments

Close side navigation menu

Search the FTSearch

Subscribe for full access

Read Original at Financial Times →