Japan’s military seeks record spending to counter N Korea, China moves

Japan’s defense ministry on Wednesday asked for a hike in spending to record levels, as it juggles its responses to a growing ballistic missile threat from North Korea and China’s assertive moves in the East China Sea.

If approved, the hike of 2.3% will take the defense budget to 5.17 trillion yen ($51.47 billion) in the year starting April 1, for a fifth consecutive increase as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bolsters Japan’s military.

South Korea Plans to Spend Billions on Missile Shield

The South Korean Defense Ministry last week offered its five-year budget proposal, which includes a major focus — to the tune of tens of billions of dollars — on increasing the country’s ability to thwart possible North Korean missile strikes from reaching their targets, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

China’s Drone Swarms Rise to Challenge US Power

Being that China produces and controls more than 95% of the world’s rare earth materials, it’s not unthinkable that they would be able to crank out thousands of drones.

China is building one of the world’s largest drone fleets aimed at expanding its military reach in the Pacific and swarming U.S. Navy carriers in the unlikely event of a war, according to a new report.

The Chinese military — known as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) — envisions its drone swarms scouting out battlefields, guiding missile strikes and overwhelming opponents through sheer numbers. China’s military-industrial complex has created a wide array of homegrown drones to accomplish those goals over the past decade, according to the report released by the Project 2049 Institute on March 11.

“The PLA now fields one of the world’s most expansive UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] fleets,” said Ian Easton and L.C. Russell Hsiao, researchers at the Project 2049 Institute and authors of the new report.