The Japanese government has approved a record defense budget, which includes the purchase of American stealth fighters, as well as funding research to develop its own fighter program.

The defense budget is 5.31 trillion. yen ($ 48.6 billion) for fiscal year 2020 still needs parliamentary approval. Japan's defense spending has grown over a seven-year period by a total of 13% since 2013, a year after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office.

Among the most expensive purchases in the project are Lockheed Martin Corp.'s F-35 fighter jets. According to the 2020 budget, Japan should buy six F-35B stealth fighters at a price of 79.3 billion yen ($ 725 million). These are the first six fighters from 42 F-35B, which Japan plans to acquire in the coming years.

The Defense Ministry will spend 3.1 billion yen ($ 290 million) on refitting one of the two Izumo helicopter carriers to deploy F-35B aircraft.