Japan’s Ministry of Defense has requested a record budget for the next fiscal year from April 2023 to March 2024 of 5.595 trillion yen (about $41.4 billion).
The amount exceeds this year’s spending and will be the country’s largest defense budget in terms of size.
In its published materials, the ministry showed “the main items of the proposed draft budget, requiring an amount of 5.595 trillion yen.”
She said that this figure is not final, but rather refers only to the costs that the Ministry of Defense is ready to disclose in specific areas.
In addition, the goals and costs necessary for their implementation are not disclosed.
Experts and the media believe that as a result, taking into account the amount of undisclosed spending, total defense spending for the next fiscal year will approach 6.5 trillion yen (about $48 billion).
Undisclosed costs include costs for the Stand-Off Guided Missile Program, which is planned to significantly increase the range of surface-to-ship missiles.
It should be noted that the “Stand-Of” family of missiles is a group of so-called guided missiles used for high-precision destruction of large targets, whether land or sea, from remote areas beyond the reach of enemy ground defenses.
The upgraded missiles will be able to hit and destroy targets at a distance of 900 – 1000 km, as the missiles called “anti-ship missiles Type 12” are subject to modernization.
It is this item of expenditure that has become one of the most expensive in the budget of the current financial year, more than 30 billion yen (more than 200 million dollars) are planned for these purposes.
It is reported that the upgraded Type 12 anti-ship missiles should become one of the types of alternatives to the American Aegis Ashore missile defense system, which Japan refused to deploy in 2020 due to the risk of accelerator blocks falling on residential areas.
In addition, they can be equipped with ships and combat aircraft, the modernization of which will make it possible to fire from areas outside the zone of destruction of enemy weapons.
Source: Agencies + media