"Gundam's firm entrenchment in popular culture across the world and particularly in Japan has also been capitalized on to promote interest in engineering and future robotics technology. Not only has the term Gundam become synonymous with mecha the world over, the series has been used to inspire research and development in creating exosuits for military purpose. in 2007, the Japanese Self-Defense Force unveiled Codename: Gundam, its own plans for a mechanized power suit that would grant protection from gunfire and increased strength and mobility for individual soldiers, and last year the Japanese ministry for defense allocated $7.5 million of its 2015 budget into the research and development of Mobile Suit technology for the SDF, once again drawing comparisons between the real world and the anime franchise."