Japan’s parliament on 26 June passed a law for renaming the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), to the Air and Space Defense Force.
The official English translation for the new name is “Japan Aerospace Self-Defense Force”, while the acronym JASDF will remain unchanged, newly inaugurated JASDF Chief of Staff Takehiro Morita stated in a specially convened press conference on 30 June.
The move, which follows the recent formation of a JASDF Space Operations Combined Wing (provisional name), reflects the Ministry of Defense’s (MoD) view that operations in the space domain are of equal importance to those on land, sea and air, according to Morita.
He described the new wing’s core mission as strengthening space domain awareness (SDA) and degrading the command and control/communications capabilities of enemy nations in the event of hostilities, adding that strong space defence capabilities increase the all-domain capabilities of the Japan Self-Defense Force across land, sea and air.
The development follows a series of major restructures in the JASDF aimed at increasing the force’s space capabilities, beginning with the formation of a 20 person-strong Space Operations Squadron tasked with space situational awareness (SSA) duties in 2020.
The most prominent of these restructures was announced in 2024, which saw a shift from one Space Operations Group, which included two Space Operations and two Space Systems Management Squadrons, to a Space Operations Wing overseeing two Space Operation Groups and an Air Base Group.
After the addition of a new Space Operations Group last year, which brought the total number of Space Operations Groups from two to three, 2026 saw the announcement of another major restructure.
This included the founding of a Space Combined Wing (provisional name) which absorbed the expanded Space Operations Wing and oversees a Space Support Squadron and a Space Intelligence Group.
This year also saw the combined wing increase its size from 670 to 880 personnel, with base funding totaling ¥218 billion (approx. A $2 billion).
Several important developments for the wing are also slated for this year, including the launching of an SDA satellite, the first stage deployment of a ¥283.1 billion (approx. A $2.6 billion) private finance initiative (PFI) observation satellite constellation, and the deployment of a new mobile satellite laser ranging (SLR) station.
Edited 07/07/2026, 1650: The article read as "After the addition of a new Space Operations Wing last year, 2026 saw the announcement of another major restructure, including the founding of a Space Combined Wing (provisional name) overseeing the expanded Space Operations Wing, a Space Support Squadron, and a Space Intelligence Group."
It was changed to "After the addition of a new Space Operations Group last year, which brought the total number of Space Operations Groups from two to three, 2026 saw the announcement of another major restructure. This included the founding of a Space Combined Wing (provisional name) which absorbed the expanded Space Operations Wing and oversees a Space Support Squadron and a Space Intelligence Group."