The Japanese government has indicated that it could collaborate with Türkiye to utilize the $640 million allocated for coastal defense from its newly approved $58 billion defense budget.
According to an official government statement, the draft defense budget for fiscal year 2026 represents a 9.4 percent increase compared to the previous year. Accordingly, the defense budget for the upcoming year has been set at $58 billion.
Within this budget, the $640 million earmarked for coastal defense is planned to be spent under the “SHIELD” program to deploy large-scale unmanned aerial, surface and underwater vehicles for surveillance and defensive purposes by 2028.
The initial phase is expected to focus on imports, with potential collaboration with Türkiye noted in this context.
Under the new budget, Japan aims to strengthen the defense of its southwestern islands and enhance its “long-range strike” capabilities.
To this end, significant resources have been allocated to long-range cruise missiles as well as unmanned aerial, surface and underwater vehicles.
A substantial portion of the defense budget has been dedicated to developing long-range missile capabilities, including the acquisition of domestically produced Type-12 anti-ship missiles, which have a range of approximately 1,000 kilometers.
The defense budget requires parliamentary approval by March 2026 to take effect.
In August, Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani traveled to Türkiye, becoming the first Japanese defense minister to officially visit the country.
During his trip, he met with Turkish National Defense Minister Yaşar Güler to discuss potential UAV acquisitions and broader defense cooperation.
Nakatani also visited Turkish defense giants Baykar and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ) and the following day the toured military facilities and met with representatives of defense companies in Istanbul.
Japanese media reported that at that time, the primary focus of the trip was to explore Turkish drone acquisitions.
