Page 4 - Mid Term Defense Program News Today

An Air Self-Defense Force F-15 fighter jet takes off during a training exercise. (Asahi Shimbun file photo) Skyrocketing costs have forced the Defense Ministry to drastically revise its strategy to protect outlying islands against moves by China. Ministry officials had initially hoped to retrofit F-15 fighter jets so that they could fire long-range cruise missiles to defend the Nansei island chain that stretches southwest from Okinawa Prefecture. But expenses in the initial preparatory stage of...

17 February 2021 Author: Yuki Tatsumi, Stimson Center Japan’s 2021 defence budget is set to be its largest ever, continuing a near decade-long trend set in motion by former prime minister Shinzo Abe. Under Abe’s watch, Japan has increased its defence budget every year since 2005. The uptick in spending has continued since Abe left office in September 2020 — last December, the Ministry of Defense released its revised budget request for the 2021 fiscal year totalling approximately 5.3 trill...