Overcoming The Crisis Of Recruitment: The Japanese Military Develops Artificial Intelligence To Automation

Japanese military illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/US Marine Corps/Cpl. David Gonzalez/13th Marine Expeditionary Combat Camera)

JAKARTA - Japan's Ministry of Defense on Friday said it would invest in AI (artificial intelligence), automation and improve troop conditions to address increasingly severe recruitment shortages, leaving its troops understaffed amid increasing increases aimed at countering China's growing military power.

These measures, which were expressed in a request for his latest defense budget on Friday, came after the worst annual recruitment effort of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF).

For registration this year, until March 31, those who registered were less than 10,000 sailors, soldiers and air personnel.

From March 31, they registered less than 10,000 sailors, soldiers, and air personnel, half of the targets set.

Worried China could use military force to bring neighboring Taiwan under its control and drag Japan into war, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in 2022 announced a doubling of defense spending on missile and other supplies, advanced fighter jets and creating cyber defense forces.

However, the low birth rate makes it increasingly difficult for Japan to maintain the current number of SDF personnel at 250,000 people.

"Along with increased defense force, we need to build an organization capable of fighting in new ways," the Defense Ministry said in an annual budget request, calling for an increase in spending by 6.9 percent to reach a record 8.5 trillion yen (IDR 9,054,642,000,000,000). August 30.

To tackle fewer recruits, the Ministry of Defense said it would introduce artificial intelligence technology, allocating 18 billion yen next year to the AI surveillance system for military base security.

The ministry will also buy more drones and order three warships with high-tech air defenses for 314 billion yen which only require 90 sailors, less than half of the crew currently.

To free up more troops for frontline tasks, the SDF will also empower some training and support operations to former SDF members and civilian contractors.

And in an effort to take advantage of a group of Japanese people whose age is sufficient for war, the number is getting fewer, which companies are also pursuing that are able to pay more, the government plans to offer financial incentives and better living conditions, such as beds with better privacy and better access to social media.

In particular, the government is focused on attracting more women, which number less than 10 percent of SDF personnel. Efforts to increase their number have been hindered by a series of sexual harassment cases that are in the spotlight.

To help reverse the effort, the Japanese military wants 16.4 billion yen to build accommodation for female personnel, with better toilets and bathrooms. The government also said it would hire outside counselors to support women and strengthen abuse training.