Il Nuovo Postiglione - Japan seeks record defence budget, to triple drone spending

Japan in recent years has been shedding its strict pacifist stance, moving to obtain "counterstrike" capabilities and doubling military spending to two percent of GDP.

The defence ministry's new budget request made on Friday for the coming fiscal year starting April 1, seen by AFP, is for 8.8 trillion yen ($59.9 billion).

It surpasses the world's fourth-largest economy's previous record of 8.7 trillion yen, secured for this fiscal year ending in March 2026.

Eighty years after World War II and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan's constitution still limits its military capacity to ostensibly defensive measures.

But the new budget increase reflects the "severely intensifying security environment" around Japan, a defence ministry official told reporters in Tokyo on condition of anonymity.

- Drones -

The budget request asks to roughly triple spending on various types of unmanned vehicles to 313 billion yen.

The ongoing war in Ukraine since Russia's invasion in 2022 has highlighted the destructive power of drones and their growing role in modern warfare.

Under the plan unveiled Friday, Tokyo is eyeing the use of drones to strengthen a planned coastal defence system it dubs "SHIELD".

In the worst-case scenario where Japan's long-distance "standoff" missiles are bypassed by enemy troops, it is hoped SHIELD -- Synchronised, Hybrid, Integrated and Enhanced Littoral Defence -- could block any invasion nearer land, the official said.

Japan is hoping that SHIELD will be completed by March 2028, with no details yet on which part of Japan's coastline it will be linked to.

"There's a need to catch up with significant changes in the way militaries fight," the defence official said.

During a visit to Istanbul this month, Defence Minister Gen Nakatani agreed to explore the possible purchase of Turkish drones, Japanese media reported.

Japan, which hosts some 54,000 US military personnel, is also coming under pressure from US President Donald Trump's administration to beef up its defence capabilities.

Washington and Tokyo are moving to make their forces more nimble in response to threats such as a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

Japan is also looking to boost arms exports, and this month won a $6 billion order from the Australian navy for 11 frigates.

The budget request will now be vetted by the finance ministry, with the central government expected in the coming months to draw up a comprehensive budget proposal that is anticipated to be a record high.

The Yomiuri Shimbun daily said the overall budget request is expected to be more than 122 trillion yen, a sharp increase from 117.6 trillion yen for the current year.

Much of the money will cover elderly care and managing Japan's colossal debts, which are among the biggest as a proportion of economic output among advanced economies.

M.Vacanti--INP