Japan has sharply accelerated the purchase of long-range American missiles

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said on February 14 that his country intends to conclude a contract with the United States to purchase all the Tomahawk cruise missiles the country needs as early as fiscal year 2023 (starts in April), and not within several years starting in 2024, as about this was said earlier. This is reported by the agency Kyodo. Hamada did not explain the reason for the accelerated procurement plans.

According to the agency’s source in the Japanese government, we can talk about a batch of up to 500 Tomahawk missiles, for which it is proposed to allocate approximately $1.6 billion. The deliveries themselves may stretch for a longer period. The government of the country is seeking to strengthen its “counterstrike capabilities,” which was announced in the national security strategy of December 2022 due to the strengthening of China’s military power and the growth of missile and nuclear threats from the DPRK.

Local media claims that Japan will acquire the latest missiles, which can be launched from the destroyers of the Japan Self-Defense Forces fleet. The deployment of the Tomahawk in this country is now scheduled for fiscal year 2026, but Tokyo is consulting with Washington about the possibility of postponing this process to an earlier date. The maximum flight range of these cruise missiles varies depending on the modification and reaches 2500 km.