Tomahawk cruise missile
Japan's constitution prohibits the offense use of military force and currently none of the country's warships carry dedicated land-attack missiles. Japan's defeat in 1945 spelled the end of a century of Japanese imperialism, its empire broken up by the surrender to Allied forces as Korea became independent and Taiwan and other Chinese territories were returned to Beijing. Under the aegis of US occupation, Japan was reconstructed as a Constitutional Monarchy, with a constitution that mandated its neutrality. Since then, Japan has maintained a limited self-defense force, although conservative political forces have sought to limit or even undo that principle.
The US relies on Japan and its other main regional ally South Korea to support efforts to challenge the growing dominance of China. Japan has a territorial dispute with China over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which are uninhabited but occupy a strategically important position. Japan's relations with China have long been plagued by conflicting claims over the group of tiny East China Sea islets. Tokyo is also an informal but open supporter of the autonomous government on Taiwan, which Beijing says is a Chinese territory governed by rebel forces. Japan has increased its cooperation with regional Western-aligned countries in recent years, including South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, and joined the anti-China "Quadrilateral Security Dialogue" with Australia, the US, and India.
Japan's plan to strengthen its military also came amid North Korean missile tests. If North Korea were to attempt a nuclear attack, Japanese drones could spy on the missile fueling process, which takes several hours, and Japan could send pre-emptive Tomahawk precision missiles into the battlespace to strike first. Multiple published reports indicate North Korea has up to 200 Rondong medium-range missiles; the country's military may also have as many as 60 nuclear warheads by 2020, according to nuclear physicist David Albright, president at the Institute for Science and International Security and former UN weapons inspector. To deal with this threat possibility, Tokyo wanted to be able to destroy warheads before they even get into the air, and to take out missile launch platforms.
Japan has long used a variety of surface-to-ship missiles fired from trucks, aircraft, or warships, and air defense missiles capable of intercepting aircraft or missiles. The government's key defense documents include acquiring foreign-made missiles until it deploys home-developed missiles. Having a range of 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) and the capability of reaching North Korea and the Chinese coast, the Tomahawk would help Japan to maintain its missile potential until it develops its own weapon system. Tokyo regards Tomahawk missiles as highly reliable because the US forces have been using them in operations for quite a long time,
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe continued Japan's pivot from a pacifist security policy to a more active defense posture. Abe eyeed the addition of land-attack Tomahawk missiles to neutralize the threat of a missile attack from North Korea, according to the Sankei Shimbun Japanese newspaper report in May 2017.
It was initially [ie, in 2017] not clear how many Tomahawk missiles Japan was looking to acquire, but they would likely coordinate well with Japan's Aegis missile destroyers, which can accommodate Tomahawk launches. If Japan made this deal it would constitute a "major change in the country's security policy," Popular Mechanics reported. Japan maintained only a self-defense force, but getting these missiles would render the country more of an offensive threat to its neighbors.
The country's defense ministry intended to extend the range of Japan's homegrown Type-12 guided cruise missiles to over 1,000 km. By 2020 Japan was reportedly developing long-range missiles similar to the Tomahawk subsonic cruise missiles. Japan's new missiles would have a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (about 1,200 miles), which would make it possible to reach targets in China and North Korea. The 2,000-kilometer range makes the new type of missiles comparable to the Tomahawk land-attack missile, which has a range of up to approximately 2,400 kilometers (about 1,500 miles).
On 01 September 2022, the Japanese Defense Ministry announced that it requested a record-high military budget for 2023 of almost 5.6 trillion yen ($41.4 billion). This sum only contains the costs that the ministry was prepared to disclose. Experts and media believe that the actual requested budget stands at 6.5 trillion yen. Japan's defense budget for 2022 is 5.4 trillion yen, which was also a record high. Media reported earlier that the undisclosed part of the budget includes "standoff" missiles with the allocation of over 30 billion yen for their development - the most costly item in this year's budget.
By October 2022 Japanese authorities were considering the possibility of developing a prototype submarine capable of launching US-made Tomahawk cruise missiles, local newspaper reported on 29 October 2022. According to the report, the government was initially planning to deploy missiles on ships and aircraft, but the Japanese military voiced concerns about the danger of detection of bases by enemy forces. Experts believe that it is necessary to consider the deployment of missiles on a submarine that is much harder to track to minimize such a threat.
The development of the prototype submarine could begin in the 2024 fiscal year, which will begin on April 1, 2024, and will end on March 31, 2025. Both vertical and horizontal launch systems are considered an option for the prototype. The Japanese military will asses the test results of the prototype within ten years and will make a decision on the necessity to deploy Japan's Self-Defense Forces with such submarines, the report said.
In November 2022 Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took the provocative step of proposing to increase the Japanese defense budget to 2% of Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027 - a massive increase that would give Tokyo the world's third-largest military budget, after the United States and China. Earlier in the year, Kishida appealed to the NATO alliance for a closer partnership. At the summit in Madrid, NATO's declaration for the first time mentioned China, describing the socialist East Asian state as "systemic competition" to the alliance.
According to December 2022 reports in US media, Japan is seeking to buy as many as 500 Tomahawk cruise missiles as part of a massive military expansion. The buy is reportedly being pushed ahead as a stop-gap measure in the wake of the Taiwan crisis, which entered an acute stage in August after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island, as well as an unprecedented flurry of military activity from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in recent months.
"Japan wanted to limit its defense spending and try not to acquire second-strike capability. But the situation surrounding us does not permit us to do that," Ichiro Fujisaki, former Japanese ambassador to the United States, told a US newspaper. "Many people thought [war] was a 20th-century issue, but we are now seeing that again."
Japan's budget for fiscal 2023, which was approved in December 2022 by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's administration, included ¥211.3 billion ($1.6 billion) to procure the Tomahawks. Tokyo wanted to discuss with Washington the possibility of deploying the latest-model missiles in the country sooner than the initially scheduled fiscal 2026.
In mid-January 2023, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with US President Joe Biden to discuss further strengthening the military alliance between the two countries during his visit to Washington. At the meeting, Kishida indicated Tokyo's plans to buy hundreds of Tomahawk missiles in order to beef up Japan's defense capabilities. Prior to the leaders' meeting, Japanese media reported that Tokyo intended to buy up to 500 such missiles from the US by 2027.
Japanese Defense Minister Hamada Yasukazu on 14 Februry 2023 announced plans to sign a contract with the United States to buy Tomahawk cruise missiles through Washington's foreign military sales program. The Japanese authorities hoped the contract will be signed in fiscal year 2023, which starts on April 1. Hamada said that the government would purchase "all of the required quantity" of missiles in one go instead of several batches over several years, as was initially planned.
The announcement was made amid government plans to boost Japan's "counterstrike capabilities" to be able to respond to the Chinese and North Korean threats in accordance with three key security documents adopted in December, the news agency said. Tomahawks with the range of 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles), which are capable of reaching the Chinese coast, will help Japan to maintain its missile potential until it develops its own weapon systems, according to the report.
Hamada confirmed 27 February 2023 the government's plan to purchase 400 Tomahawk missiles "to strengthen self-defense capabilities." the prime minister specified "We are considering the purchase of at most 400 missiles". Previously Japanese media had reported that Tokyo was considering acquiring up to 400 US Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The defense chief's statement sparked criticism from the opposition, who requested that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida explain how they arrived at this exact figure. A report published earlier by the Kyodo News agency, citing an unnamed government source, said Tokyo wants as many as 500 of the cruise missiles. The report said being ahead of the deal indicates that Japan seeks to put the missiles into practical use as soon as possible amid "growing military threats from China and North Korea."
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