The Japanese government yesterday approved a record military budget, but did not earmark enough extra money to stop a splurge on US-made ballistic missile defense systems from putting a squeeze on funding for an ambitious domestic jet fighter project.
Japan’s defense outlays for the year starting on April 1 next year are to rise for a sixth straight year, an increase of 1.3 percent to ¥5.19 trillion (US$45.78 billion), a budget breakdown published by the government showed.
The biggest-ticket item is ¥137 billion to reinforce defenses against a possible North Korean ballistic missile attack.
Photo: AFP
That includes purchases of a new longer-range interceptor, the RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 Block IIA, designed to strike ballistic missiles in space; upgrades for MIM-104 Patriot missile batteries that are the last line of defense against incoming warheads; and preparations for the construction of two ground-based Aegis Ashore radar stations.
Japan is also to spend ¥2.2 billion to begin acquiring medium-range air-launched cruise missiles able to strike sites in North Korea in a bid to deter any potential attack by Pyongyang, which continues to test ballistic missiles.
“It is essential that we have the latest, most capable equipment to bolster our defenses,” Japanese Minister of Defense Itsunori Onodera said after he and other Cabinet members approved the new spending plan.
The latest rocket launched by North Korea on Nov. 29 reached an altitude of more than 4,000km before plunging into the Sea of Japan.
A spending spree on mostly US-made equipment means Japan’s defense planners are being forced to curtail domestic programs that would help local defense contractors, such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, maintain their military industrial base.
That might force Japan to curtail its long-held ambition to build an advanced stealth fighter, dubbed the F-3.
Last month, US President Donald Trump called on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to buy more US-made weapons as his administration pushes Washington’s allies to contribute more to their joint defense.
Japan plans to allocate ¥279 billion of its next budget to buy defense equipment through the US government’s Foreign Military Sales program, 15 percent more than this fiscal year’s budget and more than double the amount spent in the year that ended on March 31, 2015.
Sources last month said Japan would delay a decision to develop the F-3, which is meant to counter military technology advances by China, putting on hold a project estimated to be worth more than US$40 billion.
The latest defense spending plans provide the first concrete public indication that a pause is under way.
A budget request submitted in August earmarked ¥7.4 billion for a new large jet engine test facility that the Japanese Ministry of Defense would need to test a prototype F-3 engine. That item was not included in the budget approved yesterday.
A proposed ¥2.4 billion for other F-3 research was also trimmed to ¥1.6 billion.
“Money is being spent in other areas and this is a sign that the government sees the F-3 as a low priority,” said a ministry official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
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