Source: WeChat official account: Buyidao has been authorized to reprint
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At the Council of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, Mr. Shoda announced that he would purchase 400 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the United States as equipment for counterattack capability (attack capability against enemy bases).
According to the range of the “Tomahawk” cruise missile of nearly 1500 kilometers, it can not only cover the whole territory of North Korea and the Far East of Russia, but also bring China’s Xi’an, Changsha, Wuhan and other inland cities into the scope of attack.
According to Japan’s assumption of the so-called “ability to attack the enemy base”, once he determines that an enemy country has “signs” of using force against Japan, he can use the counter-attack capability first without any actual action.
The inclusion of the “Tomahawk” cruise missile procurement in the budget also means that Japan’s national military strategy of “both attack and defense” has been finalized, completely abandoning the “exclusive defense” policy after World War II.
What is more noteworthy is that Japan’s construction of a series of attack capabilities against enemy bases, including the Tomahawk cruise missile, has a clear intention of interfering in the Taiwan Strait.
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On the 27th, at the Board of the Budget Committee of the Japanese House of Representatives held in Tokyo, regarding the Japanese government’s plan to introduce American-made “Tomahawk” cruise missiles as counter-attack capability (attack capability against enemy bases) equipment, the Japanese ruling party said that the number of “Tomahawk” cruise missiles expected to be purchased was up to 400.
However, the purchase details were not explained in detail by Shoda Wenxiong, because the purchase was military sensitive.
With regard to the example of counterattack capability exercise required by the opposition party, the government replied at the council: “From the point of view that may endanger national security, it should not be disclosed in terms of security. It is difficult to show the example.”
In fact, about two weeks ago, Japanese Defense Minister Yasuki Hamada confirmed the news at a press conference. At that time, Yasukuni Hamada said that it was considering obtaining all the required “Tomahawk” cruise missiles with the budget of 2023, and it was not to implement the purchase plan in batches within a few years as planned before, but to complete the purchase plan at one time.
However, Hamada did not explain why the government changed its mind or disclose how many Tomahawk cruise missiles Japan plans to buy.
At that time, according to the amount of 211.3 billion yen (about 10.9 billion yuan) included in the 2023 government budget and the unit price of “Tomahawk” cruise missiles, the media calculated that the maximum number of “Tomahawk” cruise missiles purchased by Japan was about 500, which was about 100 more than the figure published by Hiroshi Shoda.
In fact, Shoda and Hamada are not pretending to be mysterious, but they understand the sensitivity of Japan’s move, so they are cautious in their words.
The US-made BGM-109 “Tomahawk” cruise missile is an all-weather subsonic cruise missile with mature technology in the United States. It uses global positioning system (GPS) satellite information to accurately destroy the target. Its flight altitude is low, and it is not easy to be captured by radar. Since it was put into actual combat during the Gulf War in 1991, it has been used in countless actual combat.
The 1991 Gulf War, the 2003 Iraq War, including the US attack on Syria in 2017, all used the Tomahawk cruise missile.
The fifth batch of “Tomahawk” cruise missiles was launched in March 2021, improving the navigation and the ability to lock targets in flight. The U.S. Navy received the first Block V “Tomahawk” cruise missile on March 25, 2021, with a range of 2414 kilometers. The range of the Tomahawk cruise missile in the Japanese sea can cover the entire territory of Korea.
The “Tomahawk” cruise missile is sold to Japan at a price of 1-2 billion yen per round. The Japanese government is considering to complete the procurement through the “Foreign Military Sales” (FMS) mode, that is, to export arms through intergovernmental agreements. The UK bought 65 Tomahawk cruise missiles in 2014, totaling about 140 million US dollars.
In fact, as early as 2013, when Japan revised the Outline of the Defense Plan, it considered having the “counterattack capability” and had a behind-the-scenes contact with the United States on the purchase of “Tomahawk” cruise missiles.
However, the Obama administration was worried about the rebound from China and South Korea and declined Japan. At that time, the United States only sold the Tomahawk cruise missile to Britain and strictly restricted the sale of the missile to other countries.
It is said that the United States also had distrust of Japan before, including in preserving confidential information.
In 2017, in the context of the repeated test firing of ballistic missiles by North Korea, the Japanese government once again discussed the introduction of cruise missiles in the future, envisaged the introduction of “Tomahawk” cruise missiles, and held consultations with the United States. The cadre of the Japanese Defense Ministry stressed that “it really becomes the object of discussion, but it depends on whether the US sells it”.
It can be seen that the United States has been relatively cautious about Japan’s purchase of Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Until August last year, Yasuki Hamada, the defense minister, was very active in the introduction of the Tomahawk cruise missile and began comprehensive negotiations with the United States.
A source revealed that the current policy of the US Department of Defense emphasizes “integrated deterrence” and hopes to enhance deterrence capability through cooperation with allies. If the Japanese Self-Defense Force can obtain the Tomahawk cruise missile, the “counterattack capability” will be greatly improved. This will also show that the United States has strengthened its trust in Japan and is also a sign of deepening cooperation between the United States and Japan.
Under the military development route of Japan from “defense” to “attack”, Japan’s interest in the purchase of “Tomahawk” cruise missiles is in line with the strategic vision of the United States in the “Indo-Pacific” region, and the relevant consultations have become active.
In October last year, when Japan decided to modify its security strategy to allow Japan to have a “counterattack capability”, several Japanese government officials said that the negotiations between Japan and the United States on Japan’s purchase of “Tomahawk” cruise missiles had entered the final stage, and the United States had shown a very positive attitude towards reaching a deal.
It is said that if the introduction of the American-made Tomahawk cruise missile can be realized, it will probably be equipped on the frigate of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, and the ship equipment needs to be modified accordingly.
It can be seen that compared with a few years ago, the attitude of the United States towards the arms sales of Tomahawk cruise missiles has changed 180 degrees. The Biden government also hopes to improve Japan’s defense capability and cooperate with the United States in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
On November 13, last year, in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, at the bilateral summit meeting, Shoda Wenxiong proposed to Biden face-to-face the purchase of “Tomahawk” cruise missiles. Biden said that Japan has a high priority in purchasing Tomahawk cruise missiles, and stressed that the United States will steadily advance the procurement process.
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In fact, the purchase of the Tomahawk cruise missile was involved as early as last December when Japan published the new version of its national security strategy and defense plan outline.
On December 12, last year, in the 15 talks held to revise the three defense documents including the National Security and Security Strategy, the two parties of Japan clearly proposed to introduce the American-made cruise missile “Tomahawk” for the construction of counterattack capability.
In the whole counter-attack capability building (attack capability against the enemy base), Japan has planned three parts in the next 5-10 years:
First, the range of Japan’s self-produced missile “Type 12 surface-to-ship missile” should be increased to about 1000 kilometers and deployed from 2026 to attack enemy bases.
Second, we should develop supersonic missiles, which are specially designed to deal with sea and island targets.
Third, the Tomahawk cruise missile launched at sea should be imported from the United States.
These equipment have medium-range attack capability. If they can reach a range of about 1500 kilometers, even if they are not deployed in Ryukyu and other places, but in Hokkaido, they can cover most of China. Its purpose is to form the so-called “saturation attack” military capability against China, so as to interfere with the Chinese Mainland on the Diaoyu Islands and Taiwan issues.
The Tomahawk cruise missile is a very important part of the whole attack capability against the enemy base. Its main feature is that it is introduced and deployed relatively quickly. In addition, it is used for submarine launch relatively covertly. It may cross some obstacles in the process of finding and attacking the target, and there are certain difficulties in prevention.
It is reported that Japan has earmarked more than US $2 billion to purchase the US Tomahawk cruise missile and deploy it on its naval destroyers to seek to deter China and North Korea. US $1.6 billion is required for the purchase of Tomahawk cruise missiles and US $832 million for technical work and training to ensure that Japan’s Aegis destroyer can launch these missiles.
Japan’s Defense Ministry said that the deployment of missiles is expected to begin after the spring of 2026.
In order to form the so-called “saturation attack” military capability against China, the number of “Tomahawk” cruise missiles eventually purchased by Japan will not stay at 400, and there may be more batches of purchases in the future.
Liu Jiangyong, professor of the Department of International Relations at Tsinghua University, said that the “Tomahawk” cruise missile purchased this time will be completely used by Japan. After the purchase, the delivery, use and training will also be relatively smooth, and there will be more joint training between Japan and the United States. The technical threshold of transfer has long passed.
Liu Jiangyong believes that this is different from the nature of the US deployment of the Chinese missile in Japan. Japan had hoped that the United States would deploy land-based medium-range ballistic missiles on Kyushu Island, but the United States had said twice that it had no relevant deployment plan.
The reason why the United States has different attitudes on the two issues of “Tomahawk” cruise missiles and the deployment of middle missiles is that the military industry group of the United States gains a lot from the sale of “Tomahawk”, and the relevant equipment is completely transferred to Japan, which has nothing to do with the United States, while the United States deploys middle missile countermeasures in Japan, which makes Japan kidnap the United States on its own chariot.
Of course, the United States is willing to sell arms to Japan for profit. However, in the context of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States does not really want to fight a war with China. Therefore, the United States is still relatively cautious about the deployment of intermediate guidance.
Japan, on the other hand, has been more aggressive on relevant issues, because it has determined plans for the construction of attack capability against the enemy base in the next five years, and will continue to move forward, and push the Japan-US alliance to deploy to the frontier base of “confrontation” with China.
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Although the Shoda government is anxious to promote the procurement process of “Tomahawk” cruise missiles, there is still some uncertainty about the deployment of relevant weapons in Japan. Who will pay for the high military expenditure finally. The so-called “defense tax increase” plan of Shoda has caused many dissatisfaction in Japan.
On the afternoon of the 26th, citizens’ groups in Okinawa, Japan, organized a large-scale rally to oppose the three security policy documents, including the new version of the National Security Strategy adopted by the Japanese government in December last year, and opposed the increase of defense costs, the deployment of missiles on the island of Okinawa, and the expansion of the Self-Defense Force.
Participants in the event said that the change of Japan’s defense policy was supported by NATO, especially the United States. The United States tried to let the Japanese Self-Defense Force play a so-called more role in East Asia, which is very dangerous for Japan and also fundamentally opposed to Japan’s peaceful constitution.
This year marks the 45th anniversary of the conclusion of the China-Japan Peace and Friendship Treaty. It is an important political consensus between the two countries to adhere to the principle of “being partners and not threatening each other”. I hope that Japan can have a correct understanding of important issues related to regional peace and stability, and also hope that Japan can keep its promise and not create confrontation.
On the Taiwan Strait issue, Japan should not underestimate or misjudge China’s determination to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
According to the website of the China Maritime Safety Administration, Dalian Maritime Safety Administration issued a navigation warning that live fire was carried out in parts of the northern Yellow Sea from 8:00 on February 27 to 18:00 on March 3; From 0:00 on February 27 to 24:00 on March 3, military training was conducted in the western Bohai Sea.
On the 27th, the spokesman for the Eastern Theater, Senior Colonel Shi Yi, said in response to the public speculation that a P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft of the United States had crossed the Taiwan Strait, that the US side’s actions deliberately interfered with the regional situation and endangered the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait, which we firmly opposed. The troops in the war zone are always on high alert and firmly defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.
This is not only for the United States, but also for Japan.