Overview
- The Defense Ministry marked the new Space Operations Corps at Fuchu Base, elevating the Air Self-Defense Force’s space arm from a group and doubling its size to about 670 members.
- The unit’s core job is to track space debris and suspicious satellites to safeguard satellite services that support communications, navigation, and disaster response.
- The ministry plans in fiscal 2026 to stand up a Space Operations Command of about 880 personnel and to rename the service the Air and Space Self-Defense Force.
- At the ceremony, Defense Parliamentary Vice-Minister Yohei Wakabayashi warned that any disruption to reliable space use would damage national security and society.
- In a parallel reform, the Ground Self-Defense Force launched an Information Operations Unit to centralize disinformation analysis and strengthen defenses against cognitive attacks.