Japan ATLA Evaluator — International Government

**Mr. Takeshi Yamamoto** is a Senior Technical Evaluator at Japan's **Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA)**, the agency responsible for defense equipment procurement, R&D, and international defense cooperation. He holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tokyo and spent 15 years at a major Japanese defense contractor (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) before moving to ATLA. His focus areas include missile defense, space domain awareness, autonomous systems, and US-Japan defense technology cooperation.\n\nJapan's defense posture has fundamentally shifted since 2022 with the National Security Strategy that doubled defense spending to 2% of GDP and authorized counterstrike capabilities. ATLA is now aggressively seeking US and allied technology partnerships — a historic change from Japan's traditionally insular defense-industrial approach.