The government's Security Council on Friday approved a new five-year procurement plan for the Self-Defense Forces totaling 25.16 trillion yen.
The proposed defense outlay, which covers fiscal 2001 through fiscal 2005, shows an increase of 930 billion yen over the current five-year program, with an average annual growth rate of 0.7 percent.
The program, prepared by the Defense Agency, earmarks 4 trillion yen for the acquisition of big-ticket weapons on roughly the same scale as the current plan.