The Government of Japan will provide 25 rigid-hulled inflatable boats to the Sri Lankan Navy for maritime trade route surveillance, according to an agreement signed on Nov. 10 by Akio Isomata, Japan’s ambassador to Sri Lanka, and Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma, secretary to Sri Lanka’s Treasury and Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.

Rigid-hulled inflatable boats are lightweight, high-speed vessels used by navies and coast guards for coastal and harbor surveillance, intercepting suspicious vessels, boarding and inspecting ships, conducting search-and-rescue operations, and responding to maritime emergencies.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry described Sri Lanka as a “point of strategic importance on sea lanes” in the Indian Ocean and said the surveillance boats would enhance the Sri Lankan Navy’s “capabilities for monitoring and surveillance, law enforcement, as well as search and rescue and disaster response,” according to Kyodo News.

The 1 billion yen ($6.3 million) aid package for the boats comes under Japan’s Official Security Assistance (OSA) framework, through which defense equipment and supplies are provided to like-minded nations, Nippon.com reported.

The boats will be used for “monitoring, law enforcement, search and rescue and disaster response,” according to a statement issued by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, Nov. 11.

Japan’s Official Security Assistance in Indo-Pacific

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The Official Security Assistance (OSA) framework was adopted in 2023, following Tokyo’s approval of its revised National Security Strategy on Dec. 16, 2022. The OSA marked a significant shift in Japan’s approach to regional security.

“The launch of Japan’s Official Security Assistance (OSA) framework in 2023 signalled a step further in the departure from a strictly pacifist aid model toward a more proactive approach to security diplomacy,” said Pratnashree Basu, an associate fellow with the Strategic Studies Programme at the Observer Research Foundation, in her issue brief titled “From Pacifism to Strategic Maturity: The Evolution of Japan’s Security Diplomacy,” published on Jan. 20.

All the countries that have received OSA assistance since 2023 are in the Indo-Pacific region, which is of growing strategic importance to Japan.

These include the Philippines, which received coastal surveillance radar systems; Bangladesh, which received naval patrol boats; Malaysia, which received maritime monitoring and surveillance equipment; Fiji, which received patrol boats and rescue equipment; Sri Lanka, which received naval surveillance UAVs in 2025; Indonesia, which received high-speed patrol boats in 2026; and Thailand, which received maritime search-and-rescue and disaster-response equipment in 2026.

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