Japan’s Cabinet has approved a record defense budget exceeding $58 billion for 2026 to fortify the nation’s strike-back capability and coastal defense with long-range cruise missiles and uncrewed arsenals.
The draft budget is up 9.4% from 2025 and marks the fourth year of Japan’s five-year program to double annual defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product.
“It is the minimum needed as Japan faces the severest and most complex security environment in the postwar era,” Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said. “It does not change our path as a peace-loving nation.”
The increase comes as Japan faces elevated tension from nuclear-armed China, North Korea and Russia.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government pledged to achieve the 2% target by March 2026, two years earlier than planned. Japan also plans to revise its security and defense policy by December 2026 to bolster its forces.
The budget plan, which requires parliament’s approval, allocates more than $6.2 billion to bolster Japan’s standoff missile capability. It includes $1.13 billion for domestically developed and upgraded Type-12 surface-to-ship missiles, which can travel about 1,000 kilometers.
The first batch of Type-12s will be deployed in Japan’s southwestern Kumamoto prefecture by March 2026, a year earlier than estimated.
For coastal surveillance and defense, Japan will spend $640 million to deploy air, sea and underwater drones under the Shield system planned for March 2028, defense officials said. The acronym stands for “synchronized, hybrid, integrated and enhanced littoral defense.”
The Defense Ministry also will open an office to study operations, equipment and other factors to help Japan deal with China’s activities in the Pacific.
Two Chinese Communist Party aircraft carriers were spotted in June 2025 near Japan’s southern island of Iwo Jima, fueling Tokyo’s concern about Beijing’s rapidly expanding military activity far beyond its borders and near disputed East China Sea islands.
Japan is pushing to strengthen its domestic defense industry by collaborating with Allies and Partners. For instance, Japan plans to spend more than $1 billion in 2026 to develop a next-generation fighter jet with Italy and the United Kingdom for deployment in 2035. There also are plans to develop drones to accompany the crewed fighter.