Japan in late-stage talks with U.S. for Tomahawk cruise missile purchase

It's about time Japan took it's "defense" seriously. The best defense is a retaliatory capability that will prevent aggressors from taking advantage of a peaceful country.

That sounds rather offensive, rather than the defensive role the SDF is constitutionally bound by. What worries me more than the SDF obtaining high-tech offensive weaponry is violating the constitution. Japan did that in the '30s and '40s and look what happened.

If Japan wants Tomahawks, it should revise Article 9.

Good. Why change Article 9 just because of additions to your arsenal? Offensive weapon can’t be used for defensive purpose? Great that Japan can better prepare. What good is a country that feels wrong about having arms to defend while having to depend on foreign forces?

LagunaToday  04:42 pm JST

That sounds rather offensive, rather than the defensive role the SDF is constitutionally bound by.

It would only be "offensive" if they were used to attack or invade another country, which is prohibited by the first paragraph of Article 9.

A purely offensive weapon. Rather strange for a "self defence force"?

Good thing they have tons of dollar reserves

No need to revise article 9 if you can just simply revise meaning of words

At the 20th Communist Party Congress last week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for accelerating plans to build a world-class military. 

Xi must first buy up more PCR test kits to continue zero-COVID attrition warfare :)

Mr Kipling - A purely offensive weapon. Rather strange for a "self defence force"?

Purely? No. It can be used to sink naval vessels or mobile military facilities used by foreign forces attacking Japan.

It can also be used to destroy permanent military installations within any countries that have attacked Japan, which would be considered defensive use.

If you are small and defenseless, you have to pay protection money to the biggest bully in the neighborhood so the bullies on either side of your house won’t beat you up.

More success for the US/LDP military industrial complex.

Well played (especially Pelosi's surprise visit, as well as the huge war games exercises conducted with Japan close to NK).

That sounds rather offensive, rather than the defensive role the SDF is constitutionally bound by. What worries me more than the SDF obtaining high-tech offensive weaponry is violating the constitution. Japan did that in the '30s and '40s and look what happened.

So, what is Japan supposed to do?

Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for accelerating plans to build a world-class military.

Come on Xi. You have the possibility, like few others, to make a real difference to the trajectory of the world and this is all you can come up with: militarism, absolute control and naked power. It's so yesterday and it makes your current trajectory and the outcome so obvious. This is not where civilisation should be going at all. It's self destruction.

Waste of money.

The Tomahawk Missile has a thousand mile range ? Far enough to reach China and Russia? China has never attacked another country in the many thousands of years of her noble history and, uniquely peaceful civilization. China's miraculous achievement thousands of years ago building The Great Wall of China which stretches thousands of miles across plains and mountainous country is proof that she is a defensive, powerful and, peaceful country. No country in the world need fear an attack by China. Her present build up of army, naval and air forces is uniquely defensive and peaceful.

Well played (especially Pelosi's surprise visit, as well as the huge war games exercises conducted with Japan close to NK).

No, it is all thanks to China and its hostile reaction to a visit to Taiwan. Launching missiles in Japans direction and all but blockading Taiwan for a week or more. Thanks to those actions Japan feels it needs more defense against the local mafia. So it goes to buy the best available. Cant blame them for that and there is no blame on America. Chinese actions cause this situation.

Japan is surrounded by aggression.

Tomahawk cruise missiles are a small step to address the balance.

Medium to long term, a first strike capability will have to fully explored.

Ultimately a tactical/strategic offshore means of retaliation must also be considered.

The Governments of China, Russia, North Korea are a clear and present danger.

The Taiwan Strait is vital shipping route for Japan economic security.

The Governments of China and Russia, have learnt little or nothing from the second world war.

Both are guilty of committing appalling genocide and atrocities.

Japan must reconsider it self protection.

And that will mean developing next generation responses to the dangers at hand.

Japanese do not have the technical no how too operate a Tomahawk,they are optical ,gps and inertial guidance,they are program with a map of the mission using Tercom,these missile are so old ,that even the US enemies know how they operate Top Secret not too be Google by people without security clearance Google Cruise Missile Tercom

Stephen ChinToday  06:58 pm JST

China has never attacked another country in the many thousands of years of her noble history and, uniquely peaceful civilization. 

"Xi Jinping orders China’s military to be ready for war ‘at any second"

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3116436/xi-jinping-orders-chinas-military-be-ready-war-any-second

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slfu3adG1OU&ab_channel=FoxBusiness

"Chinese leader Xi Jinping said at a briefing on Chinaʼs national defense that the country should now focus on preparing for a "real combat."

https://babel.ua/en/news/84552-xi-jinping-urged-the-chinese-military-to-prepare-for-a-real-combat

Somebody's a chess player. The best defence is a potent offense

China has never attacked another country in the many thousands of years of her noble history and, uniquely peaceful civilization.

Well, you might check Vietnam, and it would not be the only one. To say nothing of Tibet. The MO is usually to declare a country part of China before the attack but justifying the Vietnam attack would be much harder that way.

@Wick's pencil What good is money when you have no LIFE? When have you ever seen a money truck trailing a funeral procession?

Waste of money.

@Yrral Have you ever heard of upgraded systems? Do you really think the US is currently using out dated IMU's in THS's. Your logic and tells me exactly what our adversary think LMFAO I won't say more because loose lips sink ships!

*Japanese do not have the technical no how too operate a Tomahawk,they are optical ,gps and inertial guidance,they are program with a map of the mission using Tercom,these missile are so old ,that even the US enemies know how they operate Top Secret not too be Google by people without security clearance Google Cruise Missile Tercom*

Japanese should be concerned that Japan doesn't have secret cruise and ballistic missile programs ready to enter service the moment political issues are resolved, unlike Korea.

Korea put its 9-ton warhead super duper ballistic missile into service 6 months after all ballistic restriction agreement with the US was lifted; in other word, Korea had the missile ready to go well before then. The same goes for Korea's nuclear submarine program; officials are saying Korea's nuclear submarine will be delivered to the navy in 5 years from the day fueling issue is resolved with the US, meaning all major components including its nuclear reactors are under testing somewhere right now.

Anyhow, the US will deploy its intermediate range missile in Japan in 2025, at which point China will impose a far greater economic sanction on Japan than it did on Korea back in 2016 for THAAD deployment. China's promising something like three times the sanction on Japan.

https://twitter.com/JGSDF_pr/status/1512968456379191298

JGSDF officials inspecting the Intermediate Range missile prototype at Lockheed Martin, set for Japan deployment in 2025

Kaim,the Japanese will get the US used inventory,they can only be fired from ship and submarine,the US is prohibited from using land based cruise Missile,by an agreement with Russia

prevent aggressors from taking advantage of a peaceful country.

Is Japan a peaceful country?

Doesn't completely come across as one from a European point of view.

Siding always with American aggression, antagonising Russia and China (both of whom are in the wrong often, but I wouldn't antagonise either) and hiding behind America in doing so.

No, it is all thanks to China and its hostile reaction to a visit to Taiwan. Launching missiles in Japans direction and all but blockading Taiwan for a week or more. Thanks to those actions Japan feels it needs more defense against the local mafia. So it goes to buy the best available. Cant blame them for that and there is no blame on America. Chinese actions cause this situation.

Yes if you ignore all the bases the US has been building in the region along with all the war game exercises, massive selling of arms, sanctions, meddling, etc. then yes it is solely China's doing unilaterally and "no blame on America," because of course in real life it is all the wrongdoing on one side and the other side is totally perfect and correct LOL

Why bother? Not going to be anything here left to defend; population aging, costs becoming so high due to this crazy defense spending that no one wants kids, people too scared of immigration to let in for foreigners to buoy up the population, and news of more tax hikes and social welfare cuts on the horizon to make way for a defense budget with no spending limits. But hey, they'll have some shiny new missiles to hand over to whatever country invades since no one is left to put up a fight.

Good for the US companies making the missiles and support contracts.

Good for the US, Japan, Taiwan, and other friendly nations in the area.

Bad for Japan, as these are offensive weapons and cost a bunch. They are certainly provocation for NK, Russia and China. I have to wonder what Vietnam and the Philippians think, should Japan buy offensive weapons?

These long range missiles run about $1.3M each if you buy enough - say 150. Not sometime to be wasted on a little juk, but a few could take out a manufacturing plant with their fantastic accuracy.

There are multiple variants of the cruise missile, which aren't mentioned in the article. Land attack, ship attack and they can be launched from the air, land or ships. Sorta the same, but different.

Does the Diet ever debate important policy matters such as this? Or hold public hearings that bring in voices from outside of the government? It seems that Abe and now Kishida make all the decisions behind closed curtains and announce things as fait accompli.

I know it sounds trite and is totally cliché ish but the best defense is a strong offense.

Japan needs nukes.

Mutual self destruction is the only thing that will get China's, NK's and Russia's attention.

Kaim,the Japanese will get the US used inventory,they can only be fired from ship and submarine,the US is prohibited from using land based cruise Missile,by an agreement with Russia

Sigh. Since Russia has been in violation of the INF treaty for some years the US walked away from it around 2018. There is no restriction on ground launched cruise missiles any more.

The Japanese would receive new production missiles. Existing Block IVs are being rebuilt to Block V standard. Tomahawk has a ground launcher and are being procured by the US Army for ground launch. The Army are also buying SM-6 for ground launch. The Marines are buying Tomahawks as well. These are carried in normal shipboard VLS canisters mounted on a truck chassis. Australia is supposedly buying them but this was the first I had heard Japan was buying Tomahawks too. Keep in mind there is a new Maritime Strike Tomahawk designed to hit moving targets at sea. Land Attack Tomahawks cannot do this.

https://missilethreat.csis.org/army-selects-sm-6-tomahawk-for-ground-launchers/

https://asiatimes.com/2022/06/us-marines-to-acquire-land-based-tomahawk-missiles/https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/12/14/the-us-navy-has-an-upgraded-tomahawk-heres-5-things-you-should-know/

Japan needs nukes.

Not really. When weapons were unguided free fall bombs or early guided missiles with accuracies in the thousands of meters (with Snark you were lucky to get it within several kilometers of the target), you needed something with a really big blast radius to ensure the target was destroyed. That something with a really big blast radius was a nuclear weapon.

But today's precision guided munitions have accuracies down to a couple of meters or less. For something that accurate a normal high explosive warhead is all you need to destroy the target. Moreover modern hard target penetrator warheads make deeply buried and heavily reinforced targets vulnerable to conventional ordnance. The USAF has a 13,500 kg bomb designed to replace an old multi-megaton nuclear bomb for destroying deeply buried bunkers. Some modern cruise missiles with what is called a BROACH warhead can poke right through hardened steel reinforced concrete bunkers and destroy the contents. No need for nukes except to hold an enemies cities hostage, basically a terror weapon.

Kishida regime who ignores democracy repeats constitutional violation without even deliberation at the Diet.

It’s against Article 9 and totally illegal. All involved should be sitting in a prison cell.

China did not attack Tibet. China claimed Tibet as part of China because the original Tibetians are Chinese of the Roof of the World.

Japan needs nukes

We have them on US bases, ships and submarines. We have at Tokai NPP, Maizuru.

we are firmly stocked.

There are two concerns:

Should Japan have cruise missiles?

Article 9 was put in place to prevent Japan from ever repeating the atrocities committed by the imperial army. That was almost a century ago, so can we let the past be the past, and trust Japan with an army again? Normally, the answer would be yes. But, Japan is still refusing to admit that what they did was wrong. Class A war criminals were appended to the lists at Yasukuni shrine to show their stance. Thay still make big media events by visiting Yasukuni several times a year. They even put direct ascendants of class A war criminals in charge of national defense (the previous defense minister, and current national security advisor is the grandson of the "Monster of Showa"). Until Japan denounces their past, they should not possess weapons of mass destruction!

Should Japan have cruise missiles?

Well, if one believes that armed conflict is the only solution to the worlds problem, then yes.

FredrikToday  12:59 pm JST

But, Japan is still refusing to admit that what they did was wrong.

The US, UK, Australia, ROC (Taiwan), nations that fought Imperial Japan in WWII have no issues with that. So best you get over it.

The US Tomahawks are simply a stop gap measure until Japan's stand off missiles become ready in 2026.

Do you realize why it is important for the United States to continue the geopolitical chaos and storm that it is so painstakingly dedicated to creating and maintaining??..

Those are the businesses disguised as "freedom, democracy and good will" in the style of the good old US..

LDP government of Japan where one of six children are in poverty victimizes social security per person, sacrifices usual ​life or future of citizen, and buy weapons from US.

@OssanAmerica

The US, UK, Australia, ROC (Taiwan), nations that fought Imperial Japan in WWII have no issues with that. So best you get over it.

There are few factual errors in your statement:

The US do have issues with it. There are reasons why the ex. defense minister in the ex. defense minister.

I am not referring mainly to WWII, but to the Asian Holocaust, including the Sino-Japanese war.

I did get over it. It is not my ancestors they killed.

I think a force projection capable is important for Japan's defense.

This regime where has no interest except strengthening military.

FredrikOct. 29  10:04 pm JST

@OssanAmerica

The US, UK, Australia, ROC (Taiwan), nations that fought Imperial Japan in WWII have no issues with that. So best you get over it.

The US do have issues with it. There are reasons why the ex. defense minister in the ex. defense minister.

Wrong. The US had nothing to do with the KIshida cabinet shuffle.

https://japantoday.com/category/politics/japan-defense-chief-kishi-may-be-replaced-in-cabinet-reshuffle

I am not referring mainly to WWII, but to the Asian Holocaust, including the Sino-Japanese war.

I did get over it. It is not my ancestors they killed.

The US does not take any position as regards any WWII issues outside of those that were addressed and concluded at the International Tribunal for the Far East. There was no "Asian holocaust", an attempt to usurp a known, identified and fully documented tragedy in Europe. You may not be aware that the Republic of China brought charges of a Massacre in Nanking using a figure of 100,000 civilian casualties. The Court rejected the charges on the basis of lack of evidence.

The US Tomahawks are simply a stop gap measure until Japan's stand off missiles become ready in 2026.

Not really. First off they have a 30 year service life. Secondly, they fill a gap that Japan's missile won't. Japan will have a fast missile but shorter ranged and not nearly the warhead a Tomahawk brings. There are still a lot of good reasons to stick with subsonic, surface skimming cruise missiles even in an ere of hypersonic screamers. Tomahawks can do a lot of things the screamers can't, and because they are less expensive than the screamers you can afford more of them.

Tomahawk missile was a 1980s tecgnology, very outdated in 2020s this decades. It can be intercepted by Chinese destroyers SAMs!