Japan’s Ministry of Defense said it signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) for RTX [RTX] Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles and related equipment under a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) agreement.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida signed the LOA with Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel on Jan. 18.
![Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (center) signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) for RTX [RTX] Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles with Defense Minister Minoru Kihara (right of center) and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel (left of center) present on January 18 at the Ministry of Defense. (Photo: Japan Ministry of Defense)](https://www.defensedaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/jpn-pm-signs-loa-tlams-1-18-24.jpg)
Japan is ordering the missiles as part of an effort to strengthen and “swiftly build” its stand-off defense capabilities to disrupt and defeat invading forces earlier and from further away.
The ministry said beyond the Tomahawk procurement the Japan Self-Defense Force is primarily working on prompt procurement of indigenous standoff missiles.
“We will continue to promote the procurement of various stand-off missiles and work for early building of stand-off defense capabilities based on the Defense Buildup Program,” the ministry said in a statement.
In November, the State Department approved a $2.4 billion sale of up to 400 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAMs), divided into 200 RGM-109E Block IVs, 200 Block Vs and 14 weapon control systems (Defense Daily, Nov. 17, 2023).
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida previously told legislators he intended to buy 400 TLAMS for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers equipped with the Lockheed Martin [LMT] Aegis combat system in February 2023