Japan to buy U.S. Tomahawk missiles in bulk in FY2023

Desert Tortoise,

You're talking about interception. Note, however, that the Kishida government and the LDP are talking about pre-emptive attacks on enemy bases. That's not interception.

But when and how would Japan's SDF know that enemy missiles

Radar. Japan has some very good ones too. The US also has AN/TPY-2 radars in Japan and South Korea that allow them to very accurately track missiles launched at Japan.

Desert Tortoise,

It is not illegal for the Government of Japan to buy Tomahawk missiles. There is no analogy to stolen goods.

The Kishida government is talking about the pre-emptive strikes of enemy bases only if they knew the missiles were to hit Japan. But when and how would Japan's SDF know that enemy missiles were coming to hit Japan? Thus, the issue of legality or illegality is always involved here.

This issue should not be looked at from the perspectives of commercial dealing. Illegal items, such as stolen goods, may be cheaper than the market value. So, do you suggest people buy illegal items?

Ah, our friend Voicesinmyheadinokinawa. It is not illegal for the Government of Japan to buy Tomahawk missiles. There is no analogy to stolen goods.

Desert Tortoise,

Multi year contracts generally result in lower unit costs than annual contracts for the same number of missiles over the same number of years.

This issue should not be looked at from the perspectives of commercial dealing. Illegal items, such as stolen goods, may be cheaper than the market value. So, do you suggest people buy illegal items?

The bulk purchase of Tomahawks will never fail to accompany the problem of legality for Japan because it may run counter to the Constitution.

You can't buy enough to go toe to toe with China. When are people going to learn this?

You don't need enough to win, just enough to make it too painful for them to want to attack in the first place.

You can't buy enough to go toe to toe with China. When are people going to learn this?

But you CAN make it costly to start anything. Deterrence is what keeps bullies from attacking.

"Igitur quī dēsīderat pācem, præparet bellum"

"Therefore let him who desires peace prepare for war"

DT, would stealth missile be cheaper than a fighter or bomber,by 100 times cheaper

It depends on what you are trying to do. Missiles are all single use items. Aircraft, particularly stealthy aircraft both manned and unmanned can give you and the sensors carried persistence over the battlespace. Aircraft can attack targets over a 20-30 year life span. A missile can only be used once. Sometimes your missile needs a stealthy aircraft to find targets for it to hit.

Excellent news for the arms based economy of the USA.

DT, would stealth missile be cheaper than a fighter or bomber,by 100 times cheaper

One Tomahawk missile cost $400,000 US to procure!!

You need to add one more zero to that number. Look at page 89 of this pdf to see the 2023 unit cost of a new production Tomahawk.

https://www.secnav.navy.mil/fmc/fmb/Documents/23pres/WPN_Book.pdf

One Tomahawk missile cost $400,000 US to procure!!

@Yrral Do you really believe the balloon flew across America undetected!!! Stop believe everything you read there is information and disinformation. I know for a fact I personally tracked the balloon and witness exactly when it disappeared off my screen. Just as the US said they would act once the target got 12 nautical miles outside it would be shot down and POP GOES the Weasel!!! China is asking for a fight it doesn't want, but it will happen!! Oh yes it will!! Because they are asking for it! Please don't wake up a sleeping beast!

Ossan,it did stop China from flying a balloon on America undetected

Tomahawks are meant to strike fixed targets, isn't really capable of hitting a mobile target like a mobile missile launcher because it takes so long for the missile to actually arrive at the target and by the time the missile arrives, the launcher should have moved away. For striking mobile targets, you need ballistic missiles or hypersonic cruise missiles.

Stealthy manned and unmanned aircraft can provide in flight target updates to a variety of weapons, not just Tomahawk, but consider a primary mission for the F-35, like the F-117 it replaces, is finding and attacking mobile missiles.

Buying Tomahawks in a lump rather than buying them piecemeal over the next five years is really a bombshell. The total cost of the purchase of 500 Tomahawks will be 211.3 billion yen.

Multi year contracts generally result in lower unit costs than annual contracts for the same number of missiles over the same number of years.

Tomahawks are meant to strike fixed targets, isn't really capable of hitting a mobile target like a mobile missile launcher because it takes so long for the missile to actually arrive at the target and by the time the missile arrives, the launcher should have moved away. For striking mobile targets, you need ballistic missiles or hypersonic cruise missiles.

Find out what Maritime Strike Tomahawk is. it is very different from other TACTOM variants and is designed to find and hit ships at sea. Btw, SM-6 has a very effective anti-surface mode and is intended to be used for surface strike. The US Army is buying SM-6 and TACTOM, mounting them on trailers for land warfare and anti-ship strikes.

Tomahawk has been in service 40 years, subsonic missiles like a jumbo sized Harpoon or Exocet missiles. Chinese destroyers has phased array radar to detect these low level flying objects, easy to be intercepted by missiles or galling cannon. One unexploded Tomahawk has been captured by Taliban in 1998 and sold to China, so we know the exact aerodynamic and stealthness of that weapon.

So here's the rub. You might have noticed that the western militaries stick with subsonic, super low flying cruise missiles and haven't adopted supersonic screamers like 3M54 or Yakhont. Harpoon, Tomahawk, AGM-86 ALCM, Storm Shadow, SCALP are all subsonic sea/terrain skimmers. The US has certainly tested supersonic screamers. The very first ducted rocket ramjets were tested in the early 1950s in Project RARE. There as ALVRJ (which the Russians copied to make 3M54), ASALM which nudged hypersonic speeds back in the 1970s and others but has given them a pass for now. Low fliers are very hard to detect. Fast high fliers you see coming from a long ways out and can engage. They are harder to shoot down maybe but they don't hit their target as often. When you are going three times the speed of Mach 0.8 sea skimmer, your seeker and targeting system only have 1/3 the time to find a target and maneuver to hit it. More often than not they don't have time to find a target. The slower moving sea skimmer actually find their target more often and hit it. Over land something flying a couple of meters above terrain using terrain and vegetation to avoid detection can be a really tough target to hit.

DT,the tomahawk has a lot of hit and misses in Iraq, killed a lots of innocent Iraqis

Tomahawks hit their target over 95% of the time. Very few missiles can match that performance.

Buying Tomahawks in a lump rather than buying them piecemeal over the next five years is really a bombshell. The total cost of the purchase of 500 Tomahawks will be 211.3 billion yen. Besides the price tag, the long-range, subsonic cruise missiles need launch systems and maintenance. So, the price tag will skyrocket beyond anyone's imagination. 

Did Prime Minister Fumio Kishida obtain a "go" sign from the nation and the Diet, for Japan's strike capability by employing such weapons may be contrary to its pacifist constitution.

Ossan,it did stop China from flying a balloon on America undetected

dbsaiyaToday  09:00 am JST

You can't buy enough to go toe to toe with China. When are people going to learn this? 

When are some people going to learn that going "toe to toe" is not the objective. Any military strategist knows that the purpose of posessing weapons is to make the cost of aggression by an adversary too costly to implement. Thereby protecting yourself and maintaining peace.

But if going "toe to toe" is important to you, China can not go toe to toe with the US, Jpn, Austr, India, UK, EU, Canada, etc.

The best way to avoid being attacked and invaded is for the potential attacker to know that you are prepared to fight. These missiles will help tell the dictators in the countries surrounding Japan that Japan is ready and willing to defend itself.

Japan pays its Danegeld, like a good vassal state.

lol So many more things that countries have to collaboratively pour their resources into if they want their descendents to have an environment fit to live in

Japan has been considering purchasing up to about 500 Tomahawks, according to a government source.

In a high intensity conflict that would be used within one week. What will be used after the first week? Japan needs to manufacture under license and hold stockpiles around the nation in the thousands in each one. Russia has been firing tens of thousands of missiles over the past year. It is buying stock from Iran and NK to supplement its 24/7 manufacturing.

Having only 500 missiles when China probably has over a million in stocks built up over decades, keeps Japan at a huge disadvantage.

War is coming as sure as sunrise, and only those prepared enough will prevail.

@Meiyouwenti

Will the cruise missile designed and developed 30 years ago still be effective against today’s China? 

The answer is yes. There are massive gaping holes in China's air defense interception points, such that most cruise missile strikes should slip through the gap and hit the target.

Ironically, the same holds true for the US as well.

@deanzaZZR

Does Japan have enough military satellites for guidance or will Japan need to US hardware?

Tomahawks are meant to strike fixed targets, isn't really capable of hitting a mobile target like a mobile missile launcher because it takes so long for the missile to actually arrive at the target and by the time the missile arrives, the launcher should have moved away. For striking mobile targets, you need ballistic missiles or hypersonic cruise missiles.

DT,the tomahawk has a lot of hit and misses in Iraq, killed a lots of innocent Iraqis,Japanese do not have satellite program to program them,with our US assistance using GPS,they are slow and take all day to find their ,why have the US made a stealth missile,think of all money these companies would lose

@Desert Tortoise Does Japan have enough military satellites for guidance or will Japan need to US hardware? I think that subscription would costs a bit more than Netflix...

+20% Rush delivery charge

In Japan, purchasing in bulk will enable a grand 10% off.

Japan to buy U.S. Tomahawk missiles in bulk in FY2023

Costco sells missiles now?

What is soon, a few decades? That's the rate they're going at

This is great!!! The only thing is the US should give it for free to Japan. Rather than giving free weapons to Ukraine, which will be Russia soon. Give the free defense weapons to Japan which will be in a actual war that matters.

Tomahawk has been in service 40 years, subsonic missiles like a jumbo sized Harpoon or Exocet missiles. Chinese destroyers has phased array radar to detect these low level flying objects, easy to be intercepted by missiles or galling cannon. One unexploded Tomahawk has been captured by Taliban in 1998 and sold to China, so we know the exact aerodynamic and stealthness of that weapon.

Good luck Japan, hope not too late for you!

This is great!!! The only thing is the US should give it for free to Japan. Rather than giving free weapons to Ukraine, which will be Russia soon. Give the free defense weapons to Japan which will be in a actual war that matters.

You can't buy enough to go toe to toe with China. When are people going to learn this? And who is going to man these toyz? Just Googling, U.S. military base pay for new enlistee is $20,340 annually. JSDF is $12,096 after conversion. I've been to JSDF training areas and their barracks and facilities are in poor condition. Kishida has no clue...

The money would be much better spent on developing home-made missiles. But of course, as usual, Japan has to pay protection money to its colonial master.

Please re-read the article. Buying Tomahawks is a stop gap measure until Japan can field its own missile with similar capabilities. Japan does produce several surface and air launched anti-ship cruise missiles but none of these have the long range of Tomahawk. The JGSDF comes out to California every summer and shoots their truck mounted Type 12 missiles on a big US Navy test range at moving targets in the ocean.

If you live in a tough neighbourhood you don't want to look like a victim.

Will the cruise missile designed and developed 30 years ago still be effective against today’s China? 

The Tomahawk series of missiles have gone through multiple block upgrades since their introduction circa 1983. Block IV introduced in 2004 was for all intents and purposes a whole new missile. The current version is Block V and the first ones are just now entering service. There is a new Maritime Strike Tomahawk which is very complex because unlike other versions it is designed to find and hit warships at sea, not just fixed targets on land. Very different kind of missile. There have been analyses out the hooter on various kinds of missiles and the US has tested all kinds of supersonic screamers over the years but low flying subsonic missiles seem to end up doing best in wargaming plus you can't argue with their combat success.

Talk about massively destabilizing the region while simultaneously using up Japanese tax payers' money as inflation skyrockets in one fell swoop.

Will the cruise missile designed and developed 30 years ago still be effective against today’s China? The money would be much better spent on developing home-made missiles. But of course, as usual, Japan has to pay protection money to its colonial master.

What a good obedient vassal state Japan is.

In Japan, purchasing in bulk will enable a grand 10% off.

Does Japan really plan to use it or just for PR purpose only, if it's for PR that's expensive PR campaign.