TOKYO: Japan’s Defense Ministry plans to earmark 211.3 billion yen in funding for fiscal 2023 to deploy U.S.-made Tomahawk cruise missiles as part of an effort to acquire counterstrike capabilities, officials said Monday.

The ministry also plans to deploy standoff missiles that could be launched from outside an enemy’s firing range.

It is slated to spend 200.3 billion yen to develop high-speed glide bombs for remote island defenses and 58.5 billion yen for research on hypersonic guided missiles, which could fly at more than five times the speed of sound to make interception difficult.

The ministry plans to spend 220.8 billion yen for the construction of Aegis vessels.

It also aims to spend 828.3 billion yen to procure various types of ammunition, 161.8 billion yen to help ammunition makers expand production and 5.8 billion yen for the storage of standoff missiles and other large ammunition.

The Japanese government said Friday that it will spend some ¥43 trillion yen over the five years from fiscal 2023 to boost the country’s defenses.

The government is considering earmarking a record high of some 6.8 trillion yen in defense spending for fiscal 2023, an increase of some 1.4 trillion yen from the previous year.

JIJI Press