Japan Cabinet OKs record defense budget as it pushes strike-back capability to deter regional threat

TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese Cabinet on Friday approved a record 8.7 trillion yen ($55 billion) defense budget for 2025 as Japan accelerates building up its strike-back capability with long-range cruise missiles and starts deploying Tomahawks to fortify itself against growing threats from China, North Korea and Russia.

The Cabinet-endorsed draft defense budget marks the third year of Japan’s ongoing five-year military buildup under the national security strategy adopted in 2022. The defense spending is part of the more than 115 trillion yen ($730 billion) national budget bill — also a record — that requires parliamentary approval by March to be enacted.

Japan is preparing to deploy U.S.-made Tomahawks late in the fiscal year 2025 as part of its ongoing effort to acquire strike-back capability with long-range missiles that can hit distant targets. The budget allocates 940 billion yen ($6 billion) for the so-called “standoff” defense system that also includes long-range missiles, satellite constellation and other arsenals.

The cost includes 1.8 billion yen ($11.4 million) for the purchase and addition of equipment to launch Tomahawks from an Aegis-class destroyers.

In order to reinforce its missile defense system, Japan plans to spend another 533 billion yen ($3.37 billion) that includes purchases of interceptors and a mobile reconnaissance radar to be placed on Okinawa, where more than half of about 50,000 American troops are based.

Under the defense strategy, Japan aims to eventually double its annual military spending to around 10 trillion yen ($63 billion), making it the world’s No. 3 military spender after the United States and China.

As part of the military buildup, Japan is pushing to strengthen its largely domestic defense industry by participating in joint development and promoting foreign sales.

For 2025, Japan plans to spend 314.8 billion yen ($2 billion) to build three 4,800-ton new multi-purpose compact destroyers, or FFM, that require 90 crew members, less than half the crew size currently needed as a result of automation and labor-saving design — the platform Japan wants Australia to choose for their future frigates. They are upgraded Mogami-class destroyers equipped with long-range missiles, reinforced anti-submarine warfare functions and high stealth performance, officials say.

The destroyers built by the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is one of two candidates shortlisted by Australia for its Sea 3000 frigate project and is competing against Germany’s MEKO A-200 offered by Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems. Japan would jointly develop and produce frigates for the Australian Navy.

The project not only serves to further deepen cooperation between Japan and Australia but contributes to enhancing Japan’s warship capabilities, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said last month.

Japan, whose only treaty ally is the United States, has developed close ties with Australia and considers it a semi-ally as they face China’s growing threat in the region.

Japan is desperate to win the deal after it lost to France in the 2016 submarine deal with Australia. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Cabinet has already approved foreign sales of Mogami-class FFM to Australia in hopes it is selected, and set up a joint panel of government and industrial officials to step up its campaign drive to Canberra.

Japan is also jointly developing a next-generation fighter jet with Britain and Italy for deployment in 2035 and allocated 108.7 billion yen ($690 million) in the budget for the project.

As the country’s population continues to shrink, Japan focuses on unmanned weapons and artificial intelligence to make up for the declining number of servicemembers and allocated 111 billion yen ($703 million). Separately, the budget also government this week also adopted a plan to reinforce the “human base” by significantly improving salary, working conditions and support for career paths for the Self Defense Force to attract more applicants.

FILE - This photo shows an exterior view of the Defense Ministry of Japan with its sign at the main entrance in Tokyo on Sept. 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — The man accused of burning a woman to death inside a New York City subway train has been indicted on murder and arson charges, a prosecutor said on Friday, as authorities continue working to confirm the victim's identity.

The indictment comes days after Sebastian Zapeta’s arrest and subsequent police questioning, in which authorities say he claimed not to know what had happened but identified himself in photos and surveillance video showing the fire being lit.

Zapeta’s indictment will be unsealed on Jan. 7, according to prosecutors. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez told reporters that Zapeta has been charged with multiple counts of murder as well as an arson charge. The top charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.

Zapeta, 33, who federal immigration officials said is a Guatemalan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally, was initially charged in a criminal complaint with murder and arson. Such filings are often a first step in the criminal process because, in New York, all felony cases require a grand jury indictment to proceed to trial unless a defendant waives that requirement.

Authorities say Zapeta approached the woman, who might have been sleeping on the train, on a stopped F train at Brooklyn's Coney Island station, and set her clothing on fire with a lighter on Sunday morning. He fanned the flames with a shirt, causing her to become engulfed in flames, authorities said.

Zapeta then sat on a bench on the platform and watched as she burned, prosecutors allege. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

Gonzalez told reporters on Friday that police and medical examiners are working to identify the woman using fingerprints and advanced DNA techniques, while also retracing her steps before the killing.

Police took Zapeta into custody while he was riding a train on the same line later that day.

A Brooklyn address for Zapeta released by police after his arrest matches a shelter that provides housing and substance abuse support.

Federal immigration officials said he was deported in 2018 but returned to the U.S. illegally sometime after that.

The harrowing episode has renewed concerns about safety in the nation’s largest mass transit system.

Overall, crime in the subway is relatively rare, with trains and platforms generally as safe as any other public place in New York City. Police data shows major crimes were down this year through November, compared to the same period in 2023.

But homicides were up, with nine killings through November versus five during the same time frame last year. That figure doesn’t include the woman who was burned to death, nor a man who was fatally stabbed at a Queens subway station the same day.

High-profile incidents such as stabbings and shovings also put many riders on edge in a city where millions ride the rails every day.

“When you have these incidents, it overshadows the success and it plays on the psyche of New Yorkers,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a televised interview earlier this week, noting that many high-profile incidents involve people with mental health issues.

Sebastian Zapeta, accused of setting a woman on fire inside a subway train, appears in court in New York, on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP)

Sebastian Zapeta, accused of setting a woman on fire inside a New York City subway train, appears in court, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Curtis Means via Pool)

Sebastian Zapeta, accused of setting a woman on fire inside a New York City subway train, appears in court, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Curtis Means via Pool)