Tomahawks are arriving, hypersonic missiles are in development, and nuclear submarines are under consideration. How far will Tokyo’s military buildup go?
In recent months, there’s been a distinct sense of ‘historical déjà vu’ – from Germany’s interest in long-range missiles to the development of hypersonic missile technologies in Japan. The first question that comes to mind is whether revanchism is emerging more than 80 years after the defeat of the fascists and militarists in WWII. However, this question is quite complicated, so for now, we will focus on a more practical issue: Japan’s military-technical buildup. Below, we will attempt to assess the significance of this shift in Japan’s strike capabilities and understand the direction in which the country is heading.
By the end of the 20th century, Japan had become one of the strongest and most loyal allies of the US in the Pacific region. The Japan Self-Defense Forces are equipped with American aircraft, missiles, interceptors, and other weapons. Japan is the first and to date the only country in the world to manufacture Patriot surface-to-air missiles under license, and it is the first foreign recipient of Tomahawk subsonic cruise missiles.
On July 29, 2026, the first test launches of Tomahawk cruise missiles were conducted in the Pacific Ocean from the Kongo-class guided-missile destroyer JS Chokai, equipped with the Aegis system. These tests mark the beginning of the Japanese Navy’s adoption of American long-range cruise missiles. The program to acquire these missiles is quite ambitious: Japan plans to equip four additional Aegis-capable destroyers – JS Kirishima, JS Haguro, JS Myoko, and JS Atago—with these state-of-the-art missiles, with the long-term goal of upgrading all other destroyers of this class. In total, the acquisition of 400 missiles (Block IV and Block V variants) is planned by the end of the 2027 fiscal year. This arsenal significantly alters the capabilities of the Japanese Navy, given that such cruise missiles can strike targets at ranges of up to 1,600 km. Furthermore, this is merely an interim solution pending the adoption of domestically developed missiles with similar or superior specifications.
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