The guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold launches a Standard Missile 6 during the Valiant Shield exercise near Guam, June 16, 2022. (Arthur Rosen/U.S. Navy)
TOKYO — The United States has approved a $900 million missile sale to Japan, the third major arms purchase of its kind by the American ally in a little over a year.
The State Department on Friday notified Congress that it had OK’d the sale of 150 Standard Missile 6 Block I weapons to Tokyo, according to a notice that day on the Defense Security Cooperation Agency’s website.
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force could deploy the missiles on its warships equipped with the Aegis Weapon System, according to the notice.
“The proposed sale will further enhance Japan’s capability to protect Japan and local allied land forces and will significantly improve Japan’s contribution to integrated air missile defense in the Indo-Pacific region,” the notice states.
The sale includes vehicle launch system canisters; parts and support equipment; engineering, integration and test support to produce the missiles; test and handling equipment; training aids; technical publications and data; and logistics support.
The missiles are built by aerospace company RTX, formerly Raytheon, with final testing and assembly at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., according to the company’s website.
RTX describes the SM-6 as “three missiles in one” and “the only weapon that can perform anti-air warfare, anti-surface warfare and ballistic missile defense or sea-based terminal missions.”
The SM-6 can engage manned and unmanned aircraft and cruise missiles as well as ballistic missiles in their final phase of flight, according to RTX.
“The SM-6 missile has demonstrated the ability to hit a surface target, and it can strike from any ship or location, supporting the Navy’s pursuit of sea control,” the company website states.
The missile is deployable on 60 surface ships, and the company has already delivered more than 500 missiles to the Navy.
Japan’s Ministry of Defense did not respond to emailed queries Tuesday about the sale.
Last month, the State Department approved a $39 million sale of 16 joint air-to-surface standoff missiles with extended range, or JASSM-ER, for Japan’s F-15J and F-35 fighters.
Tokyo has in recent years reinterpreted its pacifist constitution to allow its forces counterstrike capability in times of war, in response to Beijing’s rapid military expansion and its assertive claims on Taiwan and in the South and East China seas.
China has more than 1,900 ballistic missiles that can reach Japan, according to a 2022 Pentagon report on Beijing’s military capabilities.
Approvals for the missile purchases come just over a year after the U.S. approved a $2.35 billion sale of 400 Tomahawk missiles, also made by RTX, to Japan.
Military hardware sales to foreign governments are approved by the State Department and carried out by the Defense Department, unless Congress, once notified, moves to block them.
The Tomahawks, also used by the U.S. Navy, can also be launched from Aegis destroyers in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force. A Tomahawk can strike targets at a range of 1,000 miles, according to RTX.
Stars and Stripes reporter Hana Kusumoto contributed to this report.
