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The Japanese Defense Ministry. (Wikipedia)

Japan’s defense budget is expected to reach a historic high next year.

The Japanese government is in the final stages of fine-tuning a budget for the fiscal year of 2021 (April 2021-March 2022) that would include defense expenditures of around 5.34 trillion yen (US$51.35 billion), the NHK reported on Dec. 13. The number is roughly 30 billion yen (US$288.5 million) higher than Japan’s defense budget for 2020.

If the 2021 budget is finalized at its current level, defense expenditures will have risen for nine straight years since 2013, when Shinzo Abe was serving as prime minister. Japan’s defense spending has reached new highs since 2015, with each of the past seven years setting a new record. In September 2019, the Japanese Ministry of Defense submitted a 2021 budget of 5.5 trillion yen (US$52.9 billion) in defense expenditures to the Ministry of Finance. The two ministries have been coordinating with each other ever since. The 2021 budget is expected to be finalized by the end of December.

Japan’s defense budget has been rising to new heights every year because of a spree of acquisitions of cutting-edge weapons systems, including Aegis-equipped ships, missile defense, and advanced stealth fighters. Next year’s defense budget is also expected to reflect the cost of building two new Aegis ships, now that the Japanese government has abandoned its original plan to deploy a system of land-based interceptor missiles called Aegis Ashore.

Tokyo also intends to set aside appropriations for designing a satellite to be launched in 2026. That will back up the government’s pledge to prioritize investment in aerospace.

In addition, next year’s defense budget will appropriate 70 billion yen to develop a next-generation fighter, Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. Japan plans to start retiring the F2, the workhorse of the Japan Air Self Defense Force, in the 2030s and replace it with a next-generation fighter.

While Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and other companies in Japan’s defense industry are supposed to lead the development of the next-generation fighter, they will seek technical support from foreign firms that are more experienced with fighter development.

Japan plans to select American firm Lockheed Martin as one of those technical support firms. Lockheed Martin is the company that developed the F-35, a multipurpose fighter that Japan is already deploying, and the F-22, regarded as the most powerful fighter in existence.

Other companies that might provide technical support are Boeing, another American firm, and BAE Systems, a British firm. Japan’s interest in Lockheed Martin appears to be based not only on the company’s technical prowess but also on Japan’s alliance with the US.

By Cho Ki-weon, staff reporter

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