Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s Liberal Democratic Party on Monday approved military budget for the development of an advanced stealth fighter and longer-range-anti-ship missile to counter China’s military power. This approval marked the ninth consecutive rise in the military budget.
Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who stepped down from his post due to illness earlier this year pursued the military expansion which garnered a fair amount of controversy around it in the country. However, Yoshihide Suga has decided to continue the expansion by approving the funds for an extension.
With Suga’s majority in parliament, enactment of the budget is a little doubt. The Ministry of Defence will get a record 5.34 trillion yen ($51.7 billion) for the year starting from April.
Japan is buying longer-range missiles and considering arming and training its military to strike distant land targets in China, North Korea and other parts of Asia.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd with help from Lockheed Martin Corp will get $706 million in the new budget for the development of a planned jet fighter. The jet fighter is expected to cost around $40 billion and get ready in the 2030s.
Along with it, six Lockheed F-35 stealth fighters will be bought for $628 million which will include two short-take off and one vertical-landing (STOVL) B variants that will operate off a converted helicopter carrier.
Furthermore, $912 million will be given to building two compact warships that can operate with fewer sails than conventional destroyers. Japan also wants two new warships to carry powerful new Aegis air and ballistic missile defence radars that have much as three times the range of older models.
