Japan military seeks record spending hike

Defense budget has risen for seven consecutive years under PM Abe

TOKYO — Japan’s Defense Ministry is seeking to more than double spending on missile defense, including purchases of costly arsenals from the United States.

The record-high 5.3 trillion yen ($47 billion) request for the 2019 fiscal year, which was approved on Friday by the ministry, is up 2.1 percent from last year. Japan’s military spending has risen for seven consecutive years under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The request related to missile defense rises to 424 billion yen from around 180 billion yen last year. The overall government budget plan is to be submitted for Cabinet and parliamentary approval later this year.

The final budget could still grow because the request leaves out spending to reduce Okinawan communities’ burden of hosting many of 50,000 US troops stationed on the southern island and a relocation cost for some troops to the US Pacific territory of Guam.

A big chunk would buy a pair of land-based Aegis missile defense systems and a ship-to-air SM-3 Block IIA interceptor with an expanded range and accuracy developed jointly by the US and Japan, as well as upgrading of fighter jets and destroyers to make them compatible with advanced interceptors.

Japan has pushed harder to upgrade and bolster its missile and strike-back capability, amid tension with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The Defense Ministry, in an annual military review released this week, emphasized the need to further strengthen missile defense because Pyongyang hasn’t taken concrete steps to denuclearize despite its pledge to do so.

Opposition to Japan’s big spending on missile defense has risen since Pyongyang suspended missile tests this year as it made diplomatic overtures to Washington and Seoul. Japan’s use of US weapons is beneficial to its alliance with Washington, but opponents say it benefits the US arms industry but not struggling Japanese makers.

In the budget request, Japan’s US arms purchases under the Foreign Military Sales program would jump 70 percent from last year to a record 692 billion yen.

Japan currently has a twostep missile defense system interceptors on destroyers in the Sea of Japan, and if they fail, land-to-air mobile PAC-3s. Technically, the current setup can deal with falling debris or missiles fired at Japan, but is insufficient for high-altitude missiles or multiple attacks, experts say.

A pair of land-based Aegis systems can cover entire Japan and multiply missile defense, experts say. It would cost 100 billion yen more than an earlier estimate as Japan chose Lockheed Martin’s expensive LMSSR radar, said it would be capable of shooting down cruise and other missiles on high-altitude trajectory.

Opposition

It would take about six years for the system to become operational, defense officials said. It could also take longer as the plan faces opposition from many residents at the intended deployment sites of Akita in northern Japan and Yamaguchi in the southwest.

The ministry also requested 54 billion yen to upgrade F-15 fighters so they can carry more ammunition, including cruise missiles, and to increase their electronic warfare capability. It sought 92 billion yen for six F-35 stealth fighters and 14 billion yen for the research of a new highspeed arsenal to defend Japan’s remote islands.

The budget request includes 93 billion yen for space and cyber defense, including purchasing of deep space surveillance radar and scaling up of a cyberdefense unit.

“The security environment surrounding Japan has turned more severe and uncertain at a much faster pace than we anticipated five years ago, when we set the current guidelines,” Abe told Wednesday’s meeting of a governmentcommissioned panel on new guidelines, which he said should include space and cyber defenses.