Akihiro (Aki) Kawai is a Principal at The Asia Group (TAG), where he focuses on the firm’s defense and national security portfolio. Drawing on over 30 years of experience in the Japanese defense industry, Aki supports defense clients’ business objectives in Japan, helping them to develop engagement strategies and to advance business development opportunities and expand market access.
Before joining TAG, Aki was Vice President and Deputy General Manager of the Missile and Defense Aircraft Division at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) where he was responsible for program management and engineering for all of MHI’s defense aircraft programs, including the Global Combat Aircraft Program (GCAP), F-35, F-2, F-15 and H-60.
Prior to that, Aki was Vice President and General Manager of the Business Development Department, Missile and Defense Aircraft Division, at MHI, where he was responsible for all contracting for MHI’s defense aircraft and missile programs, including F-35, F-2, F-15, H-60, PAC-3, and SM-3 Blk IIA. He was a key member of the team that established GCAP, including the coordination between the UK and Japanese government and industries. This included working with the UK Royal Air Force and BAE Systems, Rolls Royce and Leonardo. He was also responsible for negotiating the creation of the F-35 Final Assembly and Checkout facility in Nagoya, including coordination between the US and Japanese governments and industries.
Aki started his career as an aeronautical engineer participating in the F-2 development team, initially in charge of the field of aeroelasticity characteristics analysis, and ground and flight tests. He subsequently became responsible for the coordination between both US and Japanese government and industry representatives within the F-2 program. During this time, he worked extensively with the U.S. Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce, as well as Japan’s Ministry of Defense and the Self Defense Force. He also spent five years in Fort Worth, Texas, as MHI’s representative at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.
Aki holds both a Masters and a Bachelors degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Nagoya University in Nagoya, Japan. He is a native speaker of Japanese, and fluent in English. Originally from Nagoya, Aki now makes his home in Yokohama, Japan.