NHK World:

Japan‘s Defense Ministry has submitted a record budget request for the next fiscal year. It wants about $52 billion — a 3.3% bump from this year’s initial request — to upgrade its land, sea, space, and cyber capabilities.

Almost $690 million would be for boosting space capabilities, including the development of a surveillance satellite. The ministry has earmarked about $340 million for the creation of a cyber-security unit within the Self-Defense Forces. And it wants more than $730 million to develop a replacement for the SDF’s F2 fighter jet.

An unspecified amount would go towards creating a new missile defense policy. That is one of the new government’s most pressing issues after its predecessor scrapped plans to deploy the land-based Aegis Ashore system…

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