Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday that the Air Self-Defense Force may "evolve into the Air and Space SDF" in the future, stressing the need to strengthen the country's defense capabilities in outer space.
Referring to the planned launch of a space operation unit inside the ASDF in fiscal 2020, which starts next April, Abe said at an annual gathering of some 180 high-ranking SDF officers at the Defense Ministry that it is "not a pipe dream" for Japan to have such combined forces.
The envisaged unit is set to be created amid an intensifying race among major powers such as the United States, Russia and China to develop technologies in that domain.