Japan weighs US$500 billion defence spending plan: sources

Japan’s government and ruling coalition are considering nearly doubling defence spending over the next five years as part of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s push to strengthen the country’s military capabilities, according to two people familiar with the matter.

If adopted, defence build-up spending for the five years from April 2027 would be set at 70 trillion to 80 trillion yen (US$457 billion to US$508 billion), up about 1.8 times from the roughly 43 trillion yen allocated under the current five-year plan, which began in financial year 2023.

The figure could still change as the government compiles the budget towards year-end and revises its three security-related documents. Japan’s defence ministry said it had no comment at this point.

One of the people told Reuters the new spending was expected to fund purchases such as large numbers of drones. The same person said a weaker yen had pushed up the cost of defence equipment procurement.