TOKYO -- The Japan's Ministry of
Defense seeks for a $48.1 billion in the fiscal 2015 budget to boost its
capabilities amid China's oceanic advances and other shifts in the security
environment.
Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe's security-focused administration pushed defense-related
spending back up in fiscal 2013, and this fiscal year's spending was raised to
4.88 trillion yen.
The
budget covers special expenditures such as government aircraft, but it still
mirrors an insistent stance by the defense ministry.
Ministry's demand budget will also
provide additional equipment to secure remote islands.
The budget will be able to
accommodate five Ospreys, transport planes with vertical takeoff and landing
capabilities, to ferry Ground Self-Defense Force units between islands. Also
included are three Global Hawk drones for monitoring in the East China Sea and
six cutting-edge F-35 stealth fighters.
The payments on aircraft and ships
are lawfully limited to five years or less, but the defense ministry’s plan is to
have the Diet next year grant a measure permitting longer contracts.
The medium-term defense program plants necessary
spending for the next five years at 24.67 trillion yen, of which 700 billion
yen will be secured through these equipment procurement reforms.
