The Asahi is largely based on the Akizuki-class destroyer; while the Akizuki-class specialized in anti-air warfare, the Asahi-class was designed to specialize in anti-submarine warfare.

The design was initially designated "25DD", referring to a date on the Japanese calendar, specifically the 25th fiscal year of the Heisei period (2013), the year that procurement of the class began.

[3][4] The Asahi class is based on the existing Akizuki-class destroyer to reduce acquisition cost and allow future development and growth.

Another unique feature of this destroyer is the usage of a GaN-AESA (gallium nitride - active electronically scanned array) multifunction radar.

These advantages include higher power density, efficiency, thermal spreading and frequency coverage.