The 2026 Defense White paper, “DEFENSE OF JAPAN 2026,” released on 4 August 2026, points toward a posture enabling Japan to defend itself more proactively and sustain that defense longer in response to the deteriorating security environment and lessons from the war in Ukraine. Its fundamental reinforcement centers on seven functions and capabilities:
(1) stand-off defense;
(2) integrated air and missile defense;
(3) unmanned defense;
(4) cross-domain operations;
(5) command and control and intelligence;
(6) rapid maneuver, deployment, and civil protection; and
(7) sustainability and resiliency.
Counterstrike capabilities, introduced in the 2022 strategic documents, are being operationalized mainly through stand-off defense and related means, while Japan retains its basic principles: an exclusively defense-oriented policy, not becoming a military power that threatens other countries, the Three Non-Nuclear Principles, and civilian control.
This paper examines three cross-cutting pillars: “new ways of warfare,” integrating unmanned assets, AI, space, networks, and other capabilities; “sustainability,” based on stockpiling, production, supply, repair, and cooperation with allies and like-minded countries; and the “human resource base”, centered on labor saving, unmanned systems, and limiting personnel losses amid demographic decline.
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