Japan’s Minister of Defense, Shinjirō Koizumi, said in a post on X on Monday that the country had begun using expendable cardboard drones developed by Japanese drone manufacturer AirKamuy. Speaking during a meeting with the startup, the minister confirmed that the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force was already utilizing the company’s low-cost drones as aerial targets as Japan expands its use of unmanned systems across its military.

The drone, known as the AirKamuy 150, is a lightweight fixed-wing platform built primarily from corrugated cardboard with a water-resistant coating. Unlike conventional military drones that rely on expensive composite materials and specialized aerospace manufacturing, the AirKamuy 150 is designed around extreme affordability and mass production.

Perhaps, the drone’s most important feature is its cost. The AirKamuy 150 reportedly costs around $2,000 to $2,500 per unit. By military standards, that is extremely low. Conventional military reconnaissance and loitering drones can cost anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of dollars, depending on their role and sophistication. Even Iran’s Shahed drones, which became heavily associated with the rise of low-cost attritional drone warfare during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, are estimated to cost roughly $20,000 to $50,000 each — potentially more than ten times the cost of the AirKamuy drone.

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AirKamuy appears to have achieved part of its extreme cost reduction by radically simplifying the drone’s construction. The company’s use of corrugated cardboard rather than relying heavily on expensive aerospace composites or carbon-fiber airframes is a major factor. According to the company, the approach could allow the drones to be manufactured using ordinary cardboard production infrastructure rather than specialized aerospace facilities, potentially enabling rapid mass production during conflict.

The drone can reportedly travel roughly 50 miles or remain airborne for around 80 minutes using an electric propulsion system while carrying payloads weighing up to three pounds. The company also says the drones, which are prefab and can be assembled in five to ten minutes, are shipped flat-packed, allowing roughly 500 units to fit inside a standard shipping container.

Speaking to the Royal Aeronautical Society at the Singapore Airshow earlier this year, AirKamuy Chief Engineer Naoki Morita said the platform was primarily envisioned as a counter-drone system capable of operating in large numbers. Beyond functioning as aerial targets, the lightweight drones could potentially be deployed in swarms to overwhelm air-defense systems, force enemy radar activation, absorb defensive fire ahead of more valuable assets, or carry small reconnaissance payloads, electronic warfare equipment, or limited munitions for one-way attack missions.

“There is strong demand for low-cost drones that can operate in large numbers and over long distances,” said AirKamuy CEO Yamaguchi Takumi in an interview with NHK World-Japan. “This model can be manufactured at any cardboard plant, ensuring high mass production capability and a robust supply chain.”

The cardboard construction may also provide another advantage. Because cardboard has lower radar reflectivity than many conventional aerospace materials, the drones could present a smaller radar signature under certain conditions. While that would not make them invisible to radar systems, reduced detectability could make tracking more difficult, particularly for small, low-flying drones operating in large numbers.

The broader concept behind the AirKamuy 150 reflects a growing shift in military thinking toward low-cost expendable autonomous systems designed to operate in large numbers. Rather than protecting a small number of extremely expensive platforms, militaries are increasingly experimenting with cheap drones that can be sacrificed during reconnaissance, decoy, interception, or attack missions.

Recent conflicts are reflecting that shift. In Ukraine, both Russian and Ukrainian forces have used large numbers of low-cost drones for reconnaissance and direct attacks. Similar tactics involving inexpensive unmanned systems have also appeared across conflicts in the Middle East.

The AirKamuy 150 may ultimately represent more than an unusual cardboard aircraft. It may instead offer a glimpse into the future of industrial-scale drone warfare — one increasingly defined not by a handful of expensive machines, but by vast numbers of cheap, rapidly replaceable autonomous systems.

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Etiido Uko is an engineer and technical writer with over nine years of experience in documentation and reporting. He is deeply passionate about all things gadgets, technology, and engineering.