Japan evaluates buying missiles from the US to strengthen its defense capabilities

MADRID, 28 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Government of Japan has reported that it has concluded final negotiations to purchase a 'Tomahawk' cruise missile from the United States, the 'Yomiuri' newspaper has learned.

The Japanese Executive is carrying out a plan to improve domestically produced missiles, as a means of "counterattack capacity", in the face of growing tensions in the region due to the launch of North Korean missiles.

In this sense, the Cabinet of the Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, has determined that the 'Tomahawk' is "essential to strengthen deterrence", 'Yomiuri' has learned.

The US side would have shown a positive attitude towards the sale and negotiations, which have entered the final phase, according to the aforementioned newspaper, which indicates that the Japanese government is approaching Washington with the aim of improving its defense system.

The 'Tomahawk' cruise missile, which is the United States' main precision-guided cruise missile with a range of more than 1,250 kilometers, destroys targets using satellite location information from the global positioning system (GPS).

This type of missile costs between 100 and 200 million yen (between 686,000 and 1,369,000 euros), so the Kishida Administration is considering introducing it through the Foreign Military Assistance program, which buys equipment through the US government.

Japan is thus exploring -- by buying US missiles -- its largest weapons buildup since World War II, amid nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, as well as assertive military activities from China, the experts say. Japanese media.

This measure is controversial in the Asian archipelago, since the country's security policy has been, during the last decades, oriented exclusively to self-defense, according to the renunciation of war that is included in its Constitution.