It is important to form a clear view of the future security environment and steadily improve Japan's defense capabilities.
China's military buildup and coercive maritime advances pose a threat to neighboring nations. Over the past 30 years, its national defense expenditures have increased more than 50-fold, if calculated with official figures alone.
North Korea has deployed hundreds of intermediate- and short-range ballistic missiles that have Japan within range. It is still unclear what kind of course will be followed in dismantling the North's nuclear weapons and missiles.
At the end of the year, the government will devise a new version of the National Defense Program Guidelines that will serve as a guiding principle for national defense over the next 10 years. It is essential to build a framework for the defense of Japan's peace and security, while gaining the understanding of the public.
Coping with the development and deployment of missiles by neighboring countries is an important task.
Aegis Ashore, a land-based missile interception system, is capable of handling an attack in which many missiles are simultaneously fired. It is necessary to sufficiently examine the cost-effectiveness of the system and clarify the significance of introducing it.
However, there is no denying that the Defense Ministry has been unskilled in dealing with the matter.
Last year, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said the Aegis Ashore system will likely cost an estimated 80 billion yen per unit. That figure has now swollen to 134 billion yen. Another cause for confusion was that from the start, the ministry had not shown the total expenditure including maintenance costs.
Gain public's understanding
The scheme will utilize a foreign military sales program in which our country purchases state-of-the-art equipment through the U.S. government. The United States takes the initiative in the price-setting process, but if the sum of money to be paid continually increases, it will likely undermine trust in the procurement of defense equipment.
In Akita and Yamaguchi prefectures, where Aegis Ashore units are expected to be installed, there are concerns about health damage from radio waves emitted by radar, and this has aroused strong objections to the plan. The Defense Ministry must continue efforts to explain the plan to the local communities affected and gain their understanding.
The U.S. Defense Department has released a report about an expected increase in the scale of Chinese Navy troops tasked with landings and other operations. There is a pressing need to increase our country's capabilities to defend the Nansei Islands, including the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture. It is important to make progress in deploying Self-Defense Forces units there and enhancing arrangements for vigilance and surveillance.
The new defense policy outline will include such items as a policy regarding the development of the successor to the F-2 fighter, which was introduced in 2000, and a course of action for building a space surveillance system. Massive costs will likely be incurred.
The government must work to reconsider the procurement costs involved while at the same time seeking to reduce expenditures by selecting equipment that should be prioritized.
The Liberal Democratic Party has proposed the amount of the defense budget be raised to 2 percent of gross domestic product.
Defense expenditures for fiscal 2018 total 5.1911 trillion yen yen, or about 0.9 percent of GDP. The ratio of 2 percent cannot be described as a realistic figure, if snowballing social security costs and other budgetary appropriations are taken into consideration.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Aug. 20, 2018)
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