Major General Hiroyuki Sugai serves as the Defense and Air Attaché at the Embassy of Japan in the United States, simultaneously accredited to Canada. He has made his career as a maintenance officer in the Japan Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) with over 25 years of service, especially in the field of maintenance, acquisition, and research and development. Recently, he served as the Deputy Director at the Defense Policies and Program Division, the Air Staff Office, the Japan Ministry of Defense, in Tokyo, where he led programs to develop JASDF space operation capabilities. \

Born in Awaji Island, Hyogo, in 1973, Sugai graduated from the National Defense Academy in 1996. Upon graduation from the JASDF Officer Candidate School, Nara Air Force Base, Nara, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant. His initial assignment was with 3rd Air Wing, Misawa Air Force Base, Aomori, where he served as a Maintenance Flight Commander. He was then assigned to logistics planning sections of the Air Material Command Headquarters and the Air Staff Office in Tokyo.

In 2009, Sugai served as a staff officer at the Defense Policies and Program Division, the Air Staff Office, where he organized changes to the JASDF structure. He then served as a Maintenance Squadron Commander, 8th Air Wing, Tsuiki Air Force Base, Fukuoka, from 2012 to 2013, where he oversaw maintenance of F-15 and F-2 fighter jets. Upon completion of his command, Sugai was assigned again to the Defense Policies and Program Division, the Air Staff Office, from 2013 to 2015, where he played a key role in designing and launching the new Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency (ATLA). He then served as a JASDF Liaison Officer to the Headquarters, the United States Air Force at the Pentagon as well as a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. from 2015 to 2017. 

Sugai has a Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the National Defense Academy.