The Japanese Ministry of Defense announced that on January 18, 2024, it signed an agreement with the US government in the form of an exchange of letters LOA (Letters of Offer and Acceptance) on Japan's acquisition of Tomahawk cruise missiles through the American program of intergovernmental foreign military sales Foreign Military Sales (FMS). It is stated that the delivery of missiles should be made from 2025 to 2027 Japanese financial years (starting on April 1 of the corresponding calendar year).
The signing by Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel of an agreement under the American program of intergovernmental foreign military sales Foreign Military Sales (FMS) on Japan's acquisition of Tomahawk cruise missiles. Tokyo, 01/18/2024 (c) Ministry of Defense of Japan
The parameters of the agreement have not been officially announced, but, according to Japanese resources, it refers to the purchase of 400 Tomahawk cruise missiles agreed in 2023, including 200 Tomahawk Block IV (RGM-109E) cruise missiles and 200 Tomahawk Block V cruise missiles. The total value of the agreement is $1.8 billion.
Recall that in November 2023, the US Department of Defense's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) sent a notification to the US Congress about the planned possible sale of 400 Tomahawk cruise missiles to Japan through the FMS program, including 200 Tomahawk Block IV (RGM-109E) missiles and 200 Tomahawk Block V (RGM-109E), as well as 14 sets of the ship's Tactical Tomahawk Weapon Control Systems (TTWCS) fire control system. The general contractor should be RTX Corporation (Raytheon). The cost of the proposed delivery in the notification was tentatively estimated at $2.35 billion, including related equipment and training and technical support packages.
Judging by the figure in the DSCA notification of 14 sets of TTWCS systems, Japan plans to equip 14 of its surface ships with Tomahawk missiles. Earlier it was reported that, first of all, to carry Tomahawk missiles, it is planned to modify all eight large Japanese destroyers equipped with an integrated AEGIS weapon system by fiscal year 2027 - four types of Kong, two types of Atago and two types of Maya. In addition, it is planned to build two more new large destroyers ASEV (Aegis System-Equipped Vessel) with the AEGIS weapon system, which will enter service in 2027 and 2028 as an alternative to the canceled program for the construction of two AEGIS ground-based missile defense systems.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced his intention to purchase 400 Tomahawk cruise missiles for the Japanese navy at a meeting of the budget committee of the lower house of the Japanese parliament on February 27, 2023. In early October 2023, Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, following talks in Washington with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, announced that Japan would begin receiving Tomahawk cruise missiles from the United States in the Japanese fiscal year 2025, that is, a year earlier than originally planned, "in light of the increasingly difficult security situation in Asia".
It was reported that initially Japan planned to purchase 400 Tomahawk cruise missiles completely in the modern version of Block V, but in the end, to accelerate purchases, it decided to purchase the first 200 Tomahawk Block IV missiles (possibly from the presence of the US Navy), which will arrive in fiscal year 2025, and the remaining 200 new Tomahawk Block V missiles which will be delivered in fiscal years 2026-2027. In Japan's defense budget for fiscal year 2023, 211.3 billion yen ($1.427 billion at the January 2024 exchange rate) was allocated for the Tomahawk missile purchase program.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense also announced the signing on January 18, 2024 with the Norwegian Kongsberg Group of a contract worth 32.5 billion yen ($220 million), agreed in the Japanese defense budget for fiscal year 2024, for the purchase by Japan of an additional number of JSM (Joint Strike Missile) air cruise missiles. Their deliveries should start from the 2026 fiscal year.
Earlier, in 2019 and 2020, Japan had already signed two contracts with Kongsberg for the purchase of JSM missiles worth 49.5 and 74.5 million dollars, respectively. Japan became the first foreign customer of JSM missiles, developed on the basis of the Kongsberg NSM anti-ship missile and optimized for placement in the internal armament compartment of the F-35A fighter.