(Bloomberg) — Japan plans to enlarge its arsenal of missiles that can hit military assets from China, North Korea and Russia as part of a defense spending program that will rank among the world’s biggest.
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The Defense Ministry sought a record 5.6 trillion yen ($40.5 billion) for the next fiscal year in a financing request made Wednesday. Although the number is only a slight increase from a year ago, the ministry said the actual figure for the fiscal year is expected to go much higher as it prices in yet unspecified costs for scores of programs.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party has said it’s looking to double defense spending over five years to counter increased threats from its three nuclear-armed neighbors whose militaries are also among the world’s biggest in terms of personnel. That could rank Japan’s military budget third, behind only the US and China, from ninth now, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, which tracks defense spending.
As part of its plan to bolster its defenses, Japan is revamping standoff missiles that can be fired from land, sea or plane to hit targets such as ships. It also plans to increase the ranges of some of these missiles, theoretically allowing them to strike targets within China, North Korea and eastern part of Russia.
Japan’s pacifist constitution constrains what its military, known as the Self-Defense Forces, can do. But some in the ruling party, including former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, have argued that Japan consider missile systems that would allow it to preemptively hit enemy rockets, seeing this as a defensive move.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s rumblings toward Taiwan and North Korea’s nuclear weapons have raised alarm in Japan and helped build public support for more spending.
Katsuhisa Furukawa, a senior analyst with the Open Nuclear Network who has written about Japan’s missile program, said the country has been steadily advancing its standoff weapons program.
China has provided a reminder of what’s at stake by firing ballistic missiles that landed near Japan’s southwestern islands during military maneuvers around Taiwan this month. Kishida has warned that Taiwan is at the frontline of the standoff between China and the US and a contingency in the Taiwan Strait would have enormous consequences for Japan.
One of the systems that is being updated is the Type-12 surface-to-ship missile. The current version has a range of about 200 kilometers (124 miles). The range of that missile is set to be extended to about 1,000 kilometers and modifications made to reduce its profile on radar, according to specialist publication Naval News.
The main contractor for the missile, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., expects a ground-launched version of the revised missile to be ready by 2025, with a ship-launched and air-launched version to follow, defense specialist publication Janes said. There was no budget estimate given in the Defense Ministry’s request for the costs of the missiles.
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