Japan awards Mitsubishi Heavy Industries $219 million contract for homegrown version of Tomahawk missile. MHI received yet another major contract to develop new standoff missiles, part of Japan’s push for counterstrike capabilities.
On April 1, Japan’s Defense Ministry announced that it has signed a contract worth about 32.3 billion yen ($2.19 million) with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to develop its own standoff missiles that can be launched from outside the enemy’s threat range.
This new missile is called a “new Surface-to-Ship/ Surface-to-Surface precision guided missile (新地対艦・地対地精密誘導弾 in Japanese)” that utilizes ground equipment with the upgraded Type 12 surface-to-ship missiles (SSMs) that is currently under development by MHI.
The Ministry of Defense in Tokyo said the new missile is scheduled to enter the development phase from fiscal year 2024 to 2032. The contract was signed on March 31, 2025, the last day of the fiscal year 2024.
About this new missile, the MoD has explained that it is “a new stand-off missile with improved anti-ship and anti-ground capabilities, such as long-range flight performance and precision guidance performance.”
This new cruise missile uses a small, fuel-efficient engine as a propulsion device, and has wings like an airplane for horizontal flight. Since it has many similarities with the U.S. “Tomahawk” cruise missile in terms of range, shape, and performance, it has been dubbed as a Japanese version of the Tomahawk by domestic media.
As for the engine, some Japanese media have reported it could be a turbojet engine.
But an official at Japan’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) on April 3 told Naval News as follows cautiously.
“The contract has just begun, and it has not yet been decided whether it will be a turbojet engine or a turbofan engine. Based on the project program, details of the equipment, such as the system design and basic design, will become clear in the future.”
What is intriguing is that the development by MHI of this “New Surface-to-Ship/ Surface-to-Surface precision guided missile” and the research and development by Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) of “New Anti-Ship Missile for the Defense of Remote Island (島嶼防衛用新対艦誘導弾 in Japanese)”, New SSM for short, are being carried out at the same time.
As Naval News previously reported, the New SSM uses KHI’s latest small fuel-efficient turbofan engine—called the KJ300 with a two-spool configuration that can generate a thrust of 3.58 kN (365 kgf) at sea-level static conditions. The engine is made for standoff missiles and is only 0.95 meters in length.
Compared to the existing MHI Type 12 SSM, which the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force began procuring in 2012, the New SSM will have a longer range. The new anti-ship missile is assumed to have a range of 2,500 kilometers – meaning that, if launched from western Japan, it would be able to reach missile bases in inland China.
Asked about the relationship between these two new missiles, the official at ATLA told Naval News on 3 April, “The New SSM and the New Surface-to-Ship/Surface Precision Guided Missile Project are different projects. And we don’t have any plans to weaponize the New SSM by producing it. On the other hand, the New Surface-to-Ship/Surface Precision Guided Missile will be developed using the results of other research and development, also reflecting the results of research on the elemental technologies of the New SSM.”
The MoD’s “FY2023 Policy Evaluation Report (Preliminary Project Evaluation)” also explains that the development project for the New Surface-to-Ship/Surface Precision Guided Missile will aim to reduce development costs by utilizing research into elemental technologies of the New SSM, the improved Type 12 SSM, and the design results of the target observation rounds.
Tokyo is striving to acquire counterstrike capabilities as soon as possible amid heightened tensions across East Asia over China’s increased maritime aggression, North Korea’s unstoppable nuclear and missile development, and Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine.
