Event: Japan

Japan’s parliament on Friday enacted a bill to reorganize the Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) into the Air and Space Self-Defense Force.With the reorganization, Japan aims to ramp up capabilities for space operations in light of the growing importance of space in national security.The bill to revise the Defense Ministry establishment law was approved at a plenary meeting of the Upper House following its passage in the Lower House in April.The ASDF will be renamed by the end of fiscal 2026, which ends next March, marking the first name change for any branch of the Self-Defense Forces — which also consists of the Group Self-Defense Force and the Maritime Self-Defense Force — since its establishment in 1954.The bill also increases the number of state ministers of defense from one to two to better prepare for emergency responses to disasters.“We will transform the organization so that we can respond to the most severe and complex security environment of the postwar period,” Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said at a news conference.