Japan Agrees to Purchase 400 Tomahawk Missiles

Japan signed a contract with the United States on Thursday to buy 400 long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, seeking to acquire the capability of striking an adversary's territory with China and North Korea in mind.

Faced with growing Chinese military clout and a nuclear-armed North Korea, the Japanese government plans to double its defense spending to 2% of GDP by 2027. In November, Washington granted approval for the sale of two varieties of Tomahawks with a range of 1,600 km (995 miles), totaling up to $2.35 billion.

Japan has approved a record defense budget worth $56 billion for the next fiscal year, beginning in April.

Despite its pacifist constitution, Japan updated key security and defense policies last year, explicitly outlining the challenge posed by China.

At a press conference, U.S. Ambassador Rahm Emanuel lauded Japan's new defense push. "As aggressors grow more belligerent, Japan is at the forefront of countries rallying to protect peace and prosperity by raising the costs of aggression," he said.

Last month, Tokyo loosened arms export controls to enable the sale of Patriot missiles to the U.S., seeking to replenish its stocks after sending the weapon systems to Ukraine.

Under the deal, arranged through Washington's foreign military sales program, Japan will pay about 254 billion yen ($1.7 billion) over a three-year period from fiscal 2025 starting in April next year, according to the Defense Ministry.

Japan was initially planning on obtaining the latest Tomahawk Block-5 missiles in fiscal 2026 and 2027 and deploying them on its Maritime Self-Defense Force Aegis destroyers. In October, it decided to start the purchase a year earlier by switching to the procurement of up to 200 of the previous version, the older Block-4 model.

U.S. Ambassador Rahm Emanuel said his nation's forces will begin providing training for the Japan Self-Defense Forces to use Tomahawks "as early as March." The envoy made his remark as he exchanged documents regarding the acquisition with Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara in Tokyo.

Japan pledged to acquire "counterstrike capabilities" to hit targets in enemy bases, in a major policy shift under its war-renouncing Constitution amid China's military rise and North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threats.

The ministry also said it signed another contract in October to buy the Norwegian-made Joint Strike Missile from fiscal 2026. With a range of about 500 kilometers, the JSMs are expected to be loaded on F-35A stealth fighter jets.