The Defense Agency will request 5.0278 trillion yen from the 2002 general account budget, an increase of 1.8 percent from this year's initial budget, according to a plan submitted to the Liberal Democratic Party's defense panel Wednesday.
The increase is partly due to the agency's plan to continue carrying out its five-year defense buildup program, introduced last year, by securing 317.8 billion yen of the 2 trillion yen flagged under next year's budget for measures to implement structural reforms.
The budget request also includes 8.3 billion yen for ongoing joint research with the United States on a ballistic missile defense program, an increase from this year's 3.78 billion yen, agency sources said.