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Japan reveals record high budget request eyeing hypersonic tech, F-35s and more
Japan is set to continue its recent trend of setting new records for its annual defense budgets, with the country continuing to cast a wary eye on China’s military modernization and nuclear-armed North Korea’s missile program.
www.defensenews.com
Japan is set to continue its recent trend of setting new records for its annual defense budgets, with the country continuing to cast a wary eye on China’s military modernization and nuclear-armed North Korea’s missile program.
The latest budget request issued by Japan’s Ministry of Defense is seeking $55 billion for fiscal 2021, which begins in April 2021. The amount is an 8 percent increase from the previous year, and makes it the eighth consecutive year the defense budget request to the Ministry of Finance has set a new record high.
This is the first defense budget for the government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who looks set to continue his predecessor Shinzo Abe’s push for Japan to bolster its international involvement in security matters.
Unsurprisingly, the latest budget request includes potential funding for more Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The ministry is seeking $308.5 million for four more F-35A conventional-takeoff-and-landing variants, and $249.8 million for two F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing versions.
Japan has an eventual requirement for 105 F-35As and 42 F-35Bs, which makes it potentially the biggest operator of the F-35 outside of the United States. The F-35Bs will be operated onboard Japan’s helicopter destroyer Izumo, which is being retrofitted domestically to operate the stealthy fifth-generation fighter jets.
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