Nikkei and Yomiuri wrote that during an LDP meeting yesterday, former Prime Minister Abe urged the Kishida administration to specify its goal for raising the nation’s defense budget to 2% of GDP in the FY2023 policy outline that the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy is expected to adopt formally in the near future. “The administration should demonstrate the nation’s….Read more

Tokyo Shimbun reprinted a Kyodo report saying that former Prime Minister Abe attended a panel discussion in Tokyo on Wednesday along with U.S. Ambassador to Japan Emanuel and renewed his call on the Kishida administration to increase Japan’s defense budget in keeping with its commitment to strengthening the U.S.-Japan Alliance. Referring to Prime Minister Kishida’s statement to President Biden in Tokyo….Read more

Nikkei wrote that the GOJ announced on Tuesday its draft economic and fiscal policy guidelines, which note that “the security environment has grown even more difficult” as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The guidelines say that the government will “radically strengthen” the country’s defense capabilities by focusing more on research and development in advanced technologies such as artificial….Read more

Mainichi wrote that the GOJ is making arrangements to jointly develop with the UK Japan’s next-generation fighter jet to succeed the ASDF’s F-2. The paper wrote that although the Japanese side had planned to receive support from Lockheed Martin in developing its next-generation fighter, the involvement of the U.S. side will be limited. The governments of Japan and the UK….Read more

Toyo Keizai reported online on Japan’s plan to join hands with the UK in developing the ASDF’s next-generation fighter jet, claiming that Lockheed Martin, which was expected to be the primary partner of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the development project, appears to be more interested in developing pilotless fighters than manned aircraft. The article said that as the U.S. military….Read more

All national dailies wrote that former Defense Minister Onodera, who heads the LDP’s Research Commission on National Security, submitted to Prime Minister Kishida on Wednesday a set of recommendations that the party wishes to be reflected in the GOJ’s updates of the National Security Strategy and two other key security documents. Kishida told Onodera that strengthening Japan’s defense capabilities is….Read more

Sankei wrote that it learned from multiple GOJ sources on Wednesday that the government is making arrangements to conclude with Thailand an agreement on the transfer of defense equipment and technology from Japan to the country. The paper wrote that Japan is aiming for the two nations to sign the agreement during Prime Minister Kishida’s planned visit to Thailand as part….Read more

All national papers reported over the weekend that an LDP panel on security affairs headed by former Defense Minister Onodera has drafted a package of recommendations to assist the Kishida administration with updating the 2014 National Security Strategy (NSS) and two other key defense documents in December. The panel reportedly emphasized in the draft that Japan cannot afford to waste….Read more

By Matsuyama Naoki   Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo held a meeting with the top executives of 15 major domestic defense industry companies at the Ministry of Defense (MOD) on April 13. The meeting was convened out of a sense of crisis over the decline of the domestic defense industry amid the growing percentage of SDF defense equipment being made in….Read more

The Ministry of Defense (MOD) is planning to launch a new “certification system” to promote the use of private-sector expertise in the development of defense equipment, the Sankei Shimbun learned from several sources close to the MOD on April 4. Private firms have become more sophisticated in technological expertise, and the government aims to pool the technological innovations of the….Read more