Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) battle tanks take part in a live fire exercise at East Fuji Maneuver Area in Gotemba on May 27, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)

TOKYO - Japan's defense ministry made a record spending request on Thursday of 7.7 trillion yen ($52.67 billion), for fiscal 2024, the latest step of a plan to boost defense spending by 43 trillion yen over five years.

The request is for the second year of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's plan to double defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product by 2027.

The defense ministry plans to set aside more than 900 billion yen to secure ammunition and weapons, including new ship-to-air missiles

The fiscal 2024 request, submitted to the Ministry of Finance, adds almost a trillion yen to the previous year's budget of 6.8 trillion yen. If approved, the budget will have increased spending by about a trillion yen from the previous year for an unprecedented two consecutive years.

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The defense ministry plans to set aside more than 900 billion yen to secure ammunition and weapons, including new ship-to-air missiles, according to the budget request.

Some 600 billion yen will be used to strengthen logistics capabilities to deploy weapons and resources towards southwest island chains.

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The budget includes funding for three new landing ships, for a total of 17 billion yen, 17 transport helicopters, for more than 300 billion yen, and a new specialized transport team to improve deployment capabilities, the defense ministry said in its request.