Japan's Defense Ministry preparing record $53B military budget

Japan’s Defense Ministry has begun negotiating the military budget for the 2024 fiscal year - begins in the country on April 1 - for a record amount in the country’s history of almost 7.739 trillion yen (more than $53 billion), Report informs referring to TASS citing the Japanese economic newspaper Nikkei.

The new military budget provides, in particular, for the formation of a new squadron in the southwest of the country, equipped with the latest fifth-generation F-35B combat aircraft purchased from the US. It is planned to allocate funds for the construction of two additional destroyers with Aegis multi-purpose computerized tracking and guidance systems.

A Naval Transport Detachment will also be formed to deploy troops as quickly as possible to remote islands in the East China Sea near Taiwan in the event of a critical situation. It is supposed to be equipped with ships of various classes and helicopters.

Provision is made for accelerating the development of a new unified integrated communication and information processing system in the armed forces, as well as long-range missiles capable of striking at the territory of a potential enemy.