On June 6, Japan’s Defense Ministry announced that it has signed four contracts worth about 314.7 billion yen ($2.3 billion) with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) to develop its own standoff missiles.
Tokyo is striving to acquire counterstrike capabilities as soon as possible amid heightened tensions in the region over China’s assertive behavior, North Korea’s unstoppable nuclear and missile development, and Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine.
Among the four contracts, most notably, the ministry has awarded KHI a contract worth 33.9 billion yen ($243 million) for research and development of a new type of surface-to-ship missile (SSM).
This new cruise missile uses a small, fuel-efficient turbofan engine as a propulsion device, and has wings like an airplane for horizontal flight. Since it has many similarities with the U.S. “Tomahawk” cruise missile in terms of range, shape, and performance, it has been dubbed as a Japanese version of the Tomahawk by domestic media.