Newsfrom Japan
Politics
Dec 26, 2025 15:57 (JST)
Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–In response to continuing military buildups by China and North Korea, the Japanese government has set defense-related spending at a record 9,035.3 billion yen under its draft fiscal 2026 budget adopted at Friday’s cabinet meeting.
The figure, including outlays related to the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, is up 3.8 pct from the fiscal 2025 initial budget and marks a record high for the 12th consecutive year.
The total also includes expenses to set up the Shield multilayered coastal defense system and improve working conditions for Self-Defense Forces personnel.
Under the Shield system, numerous drones and other devices will be mobilized to fend off coastal invasions. The country plans to spend 100.1 billion yen to acquire several thousand drones of 10 types, in hopes to establish the coastal defense system by the end of fiscal 2027.
The government will also explore the possibility of using drones for scrambles by the Air SDF. It will conduct test flights for the MQ-9B SeaGuardian, a U.S.-made long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle, at a cost of 1.1 billion yen to assess its surveillance and tracking capabilities, apparently having China’s unmanned aircraft in mind.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Jiji Press
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