TOKYO, May 6 -- The Japanese government has begun examining the possibility of deploying cruise missiles in the future, local media reported on Saturday.
The government is keen to allocate funds to look into the possibility of acquiring the capability to strike enemy launch sites, with the spending possibly coming from the government's budget for fiscal 2018, Kyodo News quoted a government official as saying on condition of anonymity.
The official said the type of cruise missile in the government's forecast is a long-range Tomahawk cruise missile that could be deployed on Maritime Self-Defense Force's Aegis-equipped ships.
Security experts within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party have been looking into ways of improving Japan's current defense capabilities with one of the mandates being to help the government look into the idea of a strike capability option.
Critics of such military moves in Japan have been quick to point out that Japan's pacifist Constitution forbids it from maintaining any war potential.
A key clause of the Constitution states that "land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained."