Tokyo, Feb. 14 (BNA): Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said on Tuesday that Japan intends to buy Tomahawk cruise missiles in large quantities from the United States by March next year, with the start of a rapid military buildup.
Hamada said in a regular news briefing that Japan wants to enter into a contract during the next fiscal year, which begins April 1, to buy Raytheon Technologies Corp. Tomahawks through the US government’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.
Japan’s latest defense budget, which will jump by a quarter from last year, includes $1.6 billion for cruise missiles, part of its biggest military buildup since World War Two. The government did not say how much it would buy, but local media reports said it wanted as many as 500.
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