Japan is considering buying up to about 500 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the United States until around fiscal 2027, as Tokyo aims to obtain an enemy base strike capability, a government source says.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Nov. 28 instructed his defense and finance ministers to secure funds to increase Japan's defense budget to 2 percent of gross domestic product in fiscal 2027.
Japan is considering using an enemy base strike capability, or what it prefers to call "counterstrike capability," with its ally the United States, in the event it comes under attack, a source familiar with the matter says.
Japan s Maritime Self-Defense Force holds an international fleet review with the South Korean navy s participation, in the latest sign of a thaw in relations between the two East Asian neighbors.