Briefly

JAPAN

Govt eyes huge jump in military spending

Japan is set to earmark 40 trillion to 43 trillion yen ($295 billion-$318 billion) for military spending over five years starting in the next fiscal year, which begins in April, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Friday. That would be a jump from the current five-year defense plan for spending 27.5 trillion yen, stoking worry about worsening one of the industrial world's worst debt burdens, which amounts to twice the size of Japan's annual economic output. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told key ministers on Monday to work on a plan to lift military spending to an amount equivalent to 2 percent of GDP within five years, from 1 percent now. Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki and Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada are expected to meet again with Kishida this month to iron out differences over the plan.

UNITED STATES

Pentagon debuts its new stealth bomber

The country's newest nuclear stealth bomber made its public debut on Friday after years of secret development and as part of the Pentagon's answer to rising concerns over future conflicts. The B-21 Raider is the first new US bomber aircraft in more than 30 years. Almost every aspect of the program is classified. Ahead of its unveiling at an Air Force facility in Palmdale, California, only artists' renderings of the warplane have been released. Those few images reveal that the Raider resembles the black nuclear stealth bomber it will eventually replace, the B-2 Spirit. The cost of the bombers is unknown. The Air Force previously put the price for a buy of 100 aircraft at an average cost of $550 million each in 2010 dollars — roughly $753 million today.

Agencies via Xinhua