TOKYO -- Japan's Defense Ministry on Friday requested money for F-35 stealth fighter jets as part of its biggest-ever budget to bolster its ability to defend remote southern islands, including ones also claimed by an increasingly assertive China.

Plans to buy P-1 surveillance aircraft and Global Hawk drones, as well as an Aegis radar-equipped destroyer, are also part of the $48 billion budget for the year beginning in April 2015, a 3.5 percent increase from the current year.

The budget reflects a new defense strategy and guidelines released in December as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushes to give the military a greater role. Tensions with China have risen over a cluster of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries.

To allow Japan a more assertive military posture, Abe's Cabinet in July approved a reinterpretation of the country's U.S.-drafted, war-renouncing constitution so the country can defend American and other foreign troops under attack. The step has split public opinion because of continuing sensitivity over Japan's militaristic past.

Twenty P-1 aircraft would cost $3.6 billion and a new destroyer $1.6 billion. Six F-35s have a price tag of about $930 million. The ministry also is requesting $400 million for research and development of next-generation fighter jets that would replace F-2 jets that will eventually be retired.

To upgrade troop mobility, Japan also plans to deploy Osprey tilt-rotor helicopters and amphibious vehicles.

The ministry said it is also forming a defense equipment agency that will centralize the development, procurement and export of military equipment and technology. In April, Japan eased its self-imposed ban on arms exports.

Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said at a budgetary meeting at the ministry that the increased spending is "to strengthen our response to attacks on islands" as well as surveillance in the sea and air around Japan. "We incorporated all costs that are necessary to ensure Japan's security," he said.

Under Japan's new defense guidelines, the ministry is launching a new amphibious unit similar to the U.S. Marines in southern Japan and a coastal unit on the southernmost island of Yonaguni to watch over the disputed East China Sea islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

Chinese coast guard ships and military jets have increased their activities in the area.

Meanwhile, China showed off the growing sophistication of its own defense industries Friday by featuring its newest attack helicopters and main battle tanks at a multinational live-firing military exercise in the country's north.

State media said the new hardware performed to expectations in the "Peace Mission-2014" drill featuring more than 7,000 personnel from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

The exercise at Zhurihe, China's largest and most modern training base, was the culmination of a week of joint training under a regional grouping known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The website of the Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper said the latest versions of the Type 99 main battle tank and the Z-10 and Z-19 attack helicopters were taking part for the first time in multinational exercises, in which actual ammunition was being used.

China's air force earlier announced it had deployed a new type of armed drone in the exercises and that it had carried out a successful missile attack on a command vehicle.

The drone, which wasn't further identified, is capable of monitoring, identifying and destroying objects in real time, making it an important tool in fighting terrorists, air force spokesman Shen Jinke was quoted as saying.

Once heavily dependent on Russia for sophisticated weaponry, China has made huge advances in developing its own weapons systems, many of them variations of foreign models. The Z-10 and Z-19 are based on the French Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin, while the earliest version of the Type 99 was a variant of the former Soviet T-72.

In a similar way, China's sole aircraft carrier was constructed from a gutted hull purchased from Ukraine and towed to China, where it underwent a decade-long refitting. Many of China's drones also bear a resemblance to the Predator, Global Hawk and Reaper models used by the U.S. Air Force and the CIA.

Years of double-digit annual percentage increases in defense spending enabled by the explosive growth of the Chinese economy have given the People's Liberation Army the ability to purchase and integrate the new systems.

Information for this article was contributed by staff members of The Associated Press.

A Section on 08/30/2014