Japan will increase its annual defense budget by a quarter to buy Tomahawks and other weapons

Japan said Friday it would increase defense spending by more than a quarter next year, including $1.6 billion for the purchase of US-made Tomahawk cruise missiles, which will be part of its larger military buildup. since World War II.

The 26.3 percent increase to a record 6.82 trillion yen ($51.7 billion) for the year starting April 1 will allow Japan to more than triple its spending on munitions it wants to deter regional rivals China and North Korea as Russia’s attack on Ukraine stokes regional tensions.

The budget, which lawmakers will pass before April, earmarks 897 billion yen for weapons development, more than the previous four years combined. Japan will use almost half of it to develop new long-range missiles which, together with Raytheon Technologies’ Tomahawks, will give it the ability to hit targets over 1,000 kilometers away, including in China.

Tokyo expects to begin deploying these new weapons in about three years, a Defense Ministry official said at a briefing.

Japan, which renounced the right to war after its defeat in World War II, plans to double its defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product within five years. That will make it the third-largest military investor in the world, after the US and China, based on current levels.

This unprecedented spending reflects Japan’s concern that China could attack neighboring Taiwan and, in doing so, threaten Japan’s home islands and pose a potential bottleneck on shipping lanes carrying oil from the Middle East.

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Source: Terra

Camila

Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.