Japan¡¯s military aid program is likely to expand from eight to at least 12 recipient countries next fiscal year after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi¡¯s Cabinet on Friday approved a record budget for the framework formally known as official security assistance (OSA).
The Cabinet agreed on a 125% ¡ª or ?10 billion ¡ª year-on-year increase in OSA funding, raising the budget to ?18.1 billion ($116 million) for fiscal 2026, as Tokyo seeks to strengthen the security capabilities of ¡°like-minded¡± partners amid growing regional security concerns.
If approved by parliament before the start of the next fiscal year in April, this would mark the largest-ever increase for the 2023-launched program. The hike is designed to not only accommodate more candidate countries, particularly from Southeast Asia and the Pacific, but also to finance ¡°increasingly larger and more comprehensive projects,¡± according to a government source.
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