Photo/Illutration The F-35A fighter jet (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The Defense Ministry’s initial budget request for fiscal 2023 includes a fourfold increase in spending through a U.S. equipment procurement program that has long been criticized as wasteful and inefficient.

A record 1.477 trillion yen ($11 billion) is being sought to buy defense equipment through the U.S. government’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, which allows the Defense Ministry to buy military ordnance directly from the United States.

The Board of Audit has conducted a number of studies that have criticized the FMS program.

Although a final accounting of the price must be made after the equipment is delivered through the program, the U.S. government has often been lax in providing the necessary information.

Because Japan must pay upfront for the equipment, costs have inevitably risen as development expenses pile up.

In past cases, the delivery of the equipment has also been delayed due to development and manufacturing problems.

According to Defense Ministry officials, the amount set aside for FMS procurement in fiscal 2023 is more than 1 trillion yen above the amount for the current fiscal year.

The amount for fiscal 2023 is also more than double the past record amount for the FMS program of 701.3 billion yen in fiscal 2019, when a number of E-2D Hawkeye early warning aircraft was signed for.

One reason for the large increase is the overall surge in defense spending in fiscal 2023, the first year of a huge five-year buildup program.

But a major reason for the fourfold increase in spending on FMS is Japan’s expected procurement of expensive equipment that will allow the Self-Defense Forces to strike enemy bases preparing to attack Japan.

Topping the list of expensive items is the Tomahawk cruise missile, for which 211.3 billion yen will be set aside.

Other items include the F-35A fighter jet at 106.9 billion yen, the F-35B fighter jet at 143.5 billion yen and an advanced variant F-15 fighter jet at 113.5 billion yen.

Amounts will also be earmarked for interceptor missiles.

The total for such strike capability equipment will top 600 billion yen, but Defense Ministry officials said other contract figures had also increased, contributing to the record amount.

Past Board of Audit studies have found a failure to actually deliver equipment already paid for or not providing a final accounting of the total costs.

According to Defense Ministry officials, as of the end of fiscal 2021, 12.3 billion yen’s worth of equipment had not been delivered under the FMS program, and no final accounting was provided for other equipment worth around 40 billion yen.

Acquisitions of such defense equipment as the Osprey aircraft and the Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense program have run into major problems in the past because of escalating costs.

Military analyst Shoji Fukuyoshi called the FMS program a “black box” with many problems, including the need to rely on U.S. engineering support when equipment repairs are required.

“Rather than first setting a spending framework, such as 2 percent of gross domestic product, the overall budget should be compiled after determining what the SDF really needs,” Fukuyoshi said. “If that is not done, the amounts for the FMS program will continue to rise.”

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