In a first, Japan’s security aid to Philippines includes defense equipment

A mobile air-surveillance radar system delivered to the Philippine Air Force in March 2024 is shown in this photo released April 30, 2024.

Mitsubishi Electric / Released

MANILA, Philippines — Japan will supply the Philippines with a coastal radar system and surveillance drones under a ¥4.3-billion grant (roughly P1.72 billion) signed in Manila on Monday, November 9, the first transfer of finished defense equipment through Tokyo's security aid program. 

Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro and Japanese Ambassador Kitagawa Katsuro signed and exchanged diplomatic notes for the fiscal 2026 package under Japan's Official Security Assistance (OSA), a grant program that funds equipment and facilities for the armed forces of Tokyo's partner countries. 

The two officials also signed notes for a separate grant to improve the water supply system of Cotabato City.

Japan has provided coastal radars to the Philippine Navy under OSA before. But the package signed Monday involves a radar system that Japan classifies as "defense equipment," its first such transfer through its security aid program since its launch in 2023. 

Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro and Japanese Ambassador Kitagawa Katsuro signs and exchanges diplomatic notes for the fiscal 2026 package under Japan's Official Security Assistance (OSA), Nov. 9, 2026.

Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

 "This project includes the first defense equipment transfer under Japan’s OSA program which aims to provide a coastal radar system, classified as defense equipment, to the Philippine Navy, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for monitoring and surveillance to the Philippine Air Force," Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a release.

The ministry said the radar and the unmanned aerial vehicles would strengthen the Armed Forces of the Philippines' (AFP) maritime domain awareness and surveillance capabilities. Simply put, this refers to the military's ability to see what ships and aircraft are moving through Philippine waters and airspace. 

First island chain

Japan and the Philippines both sit on the so-called first island chain, the string of islands running from Japan through Taiwan to the Philippines that separates China's coastal seas from the western Pacific. 

The Luzon Strait, between Taiwan and northern Luzon, is one of the main sea passages linking the South China Sea to the Pacific.

Japan's foreign ministry said the Philippines faces important sea lanes, including the South China Sea and the Luzon Strait, and plays an important role in regional security. The project would make sea lanes important to Japan more secure and help maintain regional peace and stability, it added.

"This reaffirms our shared commitment in enhancing Philippine defense capability and in advancing initiatives that support communities in Mindanao," Lazaro said in a post on X, calling the signing a concrete demonstration of the two countries' Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. 

Under the first OSA grant to the Philippines, signed in November 2023, five coastal radar systems reached the country in January 2026 and were formally handed over a month later.