- Japan's procurement of 400 US-made Tomahawk cruise missiles may be delayed by up to two years until 2029 due to heavy consumption by the US military in Middle East operations.
- The Washington think tank CSIS estimates that the US military has consumed over 1,000 Tomahawk missiles, accounting for about 30% of its total inventory of 3,100 missiles.
- Each Tomahawk cruise missile takes up to 2 years to manufacture and costs as much as $1.3 million, prompting a reassessment of defense supply chains due to production capacity bottlenecks.
Bottlenecks in Defense Production Capacity and Delivery Delays
The Financial Times, citing informed sources, reported that US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth informed Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi in a phone call earlier this month that the delivery of US-made Tomahawk cruise missiles to Japan will be delayed. According to the agreement previously signed by both parties, Japan originally planned to procure up to 400 Tomahawk cruise missiles between the 2025 and 2027 fiscal years. However, due to the latest warning from the US side, the actual delivery date may be delayed by up to two years beyond the agreed deadline, meaning the final delivery of the entire batch of defense equipment may be postponed until 2029.
Accelerated Inventory Depletion Due to Middle East Conflicts
The direct cause of this major defense procurement delay is the large-scale depletion of missile inventory by the US military in its military operations against Iran. An analysis report released last month by the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that since the outbreak of conflict in late February this year, the US military has used over 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles in operations against Iran. This consumption accounts for about 30% of the US military's current total inventory of approximately 3,100 missiles. The consumption rate far exceeds previous safety reserve plans, putting significant pressure on the existing inventory and production lines of major defense contractors.
Breakthrough Weapon for Air Defense and Production Cycle Limitations
The Tomahawk cruise missile, as a core weapon for the US in conducting long-range precision strikes, has been widely used in the recent operations against Iran to attack air defense systems, missile bases, and command centers. This type of missile has a range of up to 2,500 kilometers, allowing the US military to strike deep enemy targets without exposing aircraft or pilots. However, the production capacity for such high-precision guided weapons cannot be rapidly increased in the short term. According to defense industry data, the manufacturing cycle for a Tomahawk cruise missile is about 2 years, and each missile costs $1.3 million. If there is a shortage of upstream components in the supply chain, the production capacity gap may further widen.
