Japan advances Tomahawk missile procurement by one year

Asia-Pacific, News October 10, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

Japan has hastened its efforts to procure the U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles by one year. Japanese Defense Minister Kihara Minoru announced that Tokyo will start receiving the missiles from fiscal 2025 instead of 2026. The advancement has been made due to the “worsening”security situation in Asia.

Kihara said that the topic came under discussion during his meeting with the U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin who met the Japanese Minister of Defense Kihara Minoru in Washington earlier this week. The two defense chiefs reaffirmed their ironclad partnership in the meeting, according to the Pentagon.

Tokyo’s original plan was to acquire the missiles starting from 2026 and 2027, to equip the Japanese naval fleet of Aegis destroyers. However, considering the ongoing security situation of the region, Japan is seeking to procure at least 200 Tomahawk Block IV missiles between fiscal 2025 and 2027. The second lot of 200 missiles will be of Block V and it will start in late 2027.

Japan has set aside around $1.4 billion to acquire the missiles from the U.S. The missiles would provide stand-in support to the Japanese land and naval forces until Tokyo completes the development of production of its Type-12 cruise missile.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense has been actively working to improve the range of its domestically produced Type-12 surface-to-surface cruise missiles. The current range of these missiles is about 200 kilometers with a maximum range of up to 1000 kilometers. The Japanese Ministry of Defense’s project to enhance the range of these missiles is expected to be completed by 2026.

*^{Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force conducting Type-12 SSM live-fire exercise in Australia during Talisman Sabre 23 Exercise. (Image Credit: JDSDF/via Twitter)}*

The introduction of the Tomahawk missiles into the Japanese defense forces is linked with the cancellation of Japan’s domestic Aegis Ashore Ballistic Missile Defense program. In 2020, Japan backed away from installing two Aegis Ashore BMD systems over technical concerns. The cancelation of the program pushed Japan to look to other means of deterrence, including the consideration to purchase Tomahawk missiles from the U.S.

Tomahawk missiles are produced by American defense giant, Raytheon. According to Raytheon, U.S., and allied militaries have flight-tested the GPS-enabled Tomahawk missiles 550 times and used them in combat for more than 2,300 times. Its most recent use came in 2018 when U.S. Navy warships and submarines launched 66 Tomahawk missiles at Syrian chemical weapon facilities.

Although the Japanese Type-12 cruise missile is also undergoing major upgrades, its main purpose remains to attack ships offshore. The introduction of the Tomahawk, a mainly land-attack cruise missile, would allow Japanese forces to attack enemy bases and other targets overseas. The move to purchase strike missiles is also controversial given Japan’s strict self-defense military policy.