- To fortify its deterrence on southwestern islands against China’s increasing threat, Japan’s Defense Ministry demanded a record 8.5 trillion yen (US$59 billion) budget for 2025
- Defense officials focused on unmanned weapons and artificial intelligence to compensate for the declining number of servicemembers due to the country’s shrinking population
- This is the third year Japan has asked for a budget for a five-year military buildup plan under the government’s ongoing security strategy
TOKYO, Japan: To fortify its deterrence on southwestern islands against China’s increasing threat, Japan’s Defense Ministry demanded a record 8.5 trillion yen (US$59 billion) budget for 2025.
Defense officials focused on unmanned weapons and artificial intelligence to compensate for the declining number of service members due to the country’s shrinking population.
This is the third year Japan has asked for a budget for a five-year military buildup plan under the government’s ongoing security strategy. Japan aims to spend 43 trillion yen ($297 billion) through 2027 to double its annual military spending to around 10 trillion yen, making it the world’s No. 3 military spender after the United States and China.
The Defense Ministry approved the budget request at a meeting before submission to the Finance Ministry for negotiations through December.
Japan has been rapidly building up the defense of the southwestern region in recent years amid China’s growing military threats and tension in the regional seas.
China has escalated clashes with the Philippine coast guards in disputed waters in the South China.
A hefty 970 billion yen ($6.7 billion) of the budget request for 2025 covers the cost of bolstering strike-back capability with the development and purchases of long-range missiles and equipment for their launch, including from an Aegis-class destroyer. About one-third of it goes to a satellite constellation aimed at bolstering the capability to detect missile-related activity, as North Korea, China and Russia develop hypersonic missiles that are harder to detect and track.
While pushing military buildup, Japan has to deal with shrinking troop numbers. So it focuses on developing and buying more drones for surveillance and combat, requesting 103 billion yen ($710 million). It also seeks 314 billion yen ($2.17 billion) to build three new multi-purpose compact destroyers that require 90 crew members, less than half the crew size currently needed.
Japan has struggled to fulfill Self-Defense Force, or SDF, troop levels at 247,000 people.
The SDF is found it difficult to woo young applicants in recent years and fulfilled only half of its recruiting target of 19,598 last year, making it the lowest in the 70 years of its history.
A series of sexual assault scandals, harassment, and abuse of power in recent years have also hit the ministry. It came under fire in July over the leak of classified information and corruption scandals.
