One of the biggest military builds since the conclusion of World War II, Tokyo declared this week that it will roughly treble military spending over the next five years. Japan set aside about $10.6 billion in its most recent budget to build the ability to employ missiles to strike military sites in adversary nations. This is a significant change in tactics designed to discourage nearby countries from going on the attack If Japan learned that an enemy was preparing an attack, the country might begin a counteroffensive before being struck by missiles or other weapons, according to Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada.
Some opposition lawmakers assert that if Japan misinterprets the goals of an opponent, it runs the risk of unwittingly sparking a conflict. As part of a military show surrounding Taiwan in August, China fired missiles into the ocean not far from a handful of Japan's southern islands. In October, a missile was fired from North Korea over Japan.
Precision weapons like Tomahawk cruise missiles can attack targets precisely even in airspace that is heavily patrolled. These missiles are fired from submarines and ships. A Tomahawk cruise missile has a 1,000-mile range.
Tomahawk cruise missiles may destroy buildings and leave up to 20-foot-wide blast craters in their wake. They are powerful because they can transport a typical warhead that weighs about 1,000 pounds. These long-range missiles were designed to travel at low altitudes and subsonic speeds, making it hard for radar to pick them up. They have the ability to advance far into hostile area.
The US possesses a stockpile of roughly 4,000 of the missiles, which were extensively employed in Libya, Syria, and Iraq. 100 of them are expected to be used annually for training and testing. The UK is currently Tomahawks' exclusive export market. Additionally, Australia has expressed interest in purchasing missiles that might be modified to launch from its present fleet of submarines.
Tomahawks may be fired "from over 140 US Navy ships and submarines, including four converted Ohio-class submarines, as well as Astute, Swiftsure, and Trafalgar-class submarines of the Royal Navy," according to the CSIS Missile Defense Project.
Over the next five years, Tokyo plans to invest almost $38 billion in the deployment of missiles that can launch far-reaching attacks on adversarial targets. A portion of that is the Tomahawk purchases. The current range of the Type 12 surface-to-ship missile will also be extended by Tokyo. Estimates state that the preparation of these modified missiles won't start until spring 2026 or later. According to the defense minister, Japan would like to have a ready-made missile, such as the Tomahawk, in case its own missile technologies are delayed. He said, "At the development stage, you never know what's going to happen.