Goal of possessing 147 stealth units... Japan's largest defense budget next year

Japan will spend its largest defense budget next year. The Ministry of Defense of Japan announced on the 30th that it has organized a budget for defense relations for the 2021 fiscal year (April 2021 to March 2022), which is 3.3% higher than this year (5,3133 billion yen), which is 5,488.8 billion yen (about 60,800 billion won). This is 1% of Japan's gross domestic product (GDP), which is about 8 trillion won more than the next year's Korean defense budget (52 trillion 9174 billion won).

If it is confirmed as it is in March of next year after consultation with the Ministry of Finance, which is responsible for the budget, it will be the largest ever, and it will increase for 9 consecutive years since 2013, the year following the inauguration of the second Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In addition, the first defense budget executed by the Suga Yoshihide government will break a record record.

The Ministry of Defense explained that it prepared the next year's budget with an emphasis on building multi-dimensional integrated defense capabilities in the third year of the implementation of the'Medium Defense Force Maintenance Plan' (2019-2023) based on the'Defensive Plan Outline' confirmed in December 2018. . Product costs including weaponry purchase and development costs increased by 3.2% to 3,273.1 billion yen, and labor and food expenses increased by 3.5% to 2,226.7 billion yen, respectively. By detailed category, a lot of money is invested in new areas such as space, cyber, electromagnetic waves, as well as strengthening the traditional defense and attack capabilities of the'sea and sky' area. It allocated 66.6 billion yen to additional acquisition costs for the F-35A (four) and F-35B (two), the most advanced stealth fighters. The Japanese government plans to gradually increase the number of F-35 type fighters to 147, the largest number outside the United States.

23.1 billion yen was newly reflected in the project to convert the frigate'Kaga', which can be used by the F-35B, which is capable of vertical takeoff and landing, into a light carrier (multipurpose operation carrier). It plans to purchase an additional 3 units (68 billion won) of fixed-wing patrol machines (P-1) to enhance information gathering capabilities.

It is also noteworthy that while a large budget (124.7 billion yen) was allocated to strengthen the comprehensive missile defense capabilities with North Korea in mind, it is also noteworthy that it decided to 72.4 billion yen for the space sector and 35.7 billion yen for the cyber sector. The cost of acquiring various types of ammunition for the Self-Defense Forces was set at 251.4 billion yen, a 47% increase from this year.

출처 : https://sedaily.com/NewsView/1Z822O17NN