How the US Is Arming Allies With Missiles To Sink China’s Warships

The United States is arming major Pacific allies and partners—Australia, Japan, and Taiwan—with anti-ships missiles as China’s navy expands its reach and presence.

Beijing has warned that the region should not become “an arena for geopolitical games,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., told Newsweek in an email.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.

Why It Matters

A recent U.S. Defense Department assessment said China has the world’s largest navy by hull count—more than 370 vessels, including two aircraft carriers, in service—and is attempting to challenge American naval dominance within and beyond the Indo-Pacific region.

The Chinese military has dispatched its naval fleet to stage shows of force in the region, including in daily operations around the self-governed island of Taiwan, by deploying an aircraft carrier near Japan’s outlying islands, as well as in an unusual month-long circumnavigation of Australia.

Japan and Taiwan are part of the first island chain under a U.S. defense concept first developed in the Cold War. The strategy seeks to constrain China’s military activities in the Western Pacific Ocean—and U.S. assistance to Australia in the form of nuclear-powered submarines and long-range missiles is just one way it is playing out.

What To Know

Last month, Australia successfully test-launched the 575-mile-range AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) with its fighter jets. Washington approved the sale of up to 200 stealth missiles to Canberra in 2020 for an estimated cost of $990 million.

Alex Luck, an Australia-based naval analyst, told Newsweek that the LRASM “drastically grows and improves” the Australian air force’s reach against naval vessels with its increased range and survivability against defensive and countermeasures by the target.

Australia also allocated $4.4 billion toward the acquisition of the Standard Missile-2 Block IIIC and Standard Missile-6 from the U.S., with the latter having a range of 290 miles and capable of attacking warships and supporting air defense.

The U.S. agreed to sell up to 220 Tomahawk cruise missiles to Australia in 2023, a $895 million deal that included 200 missiles in the Block V variant. The Tomahawk is capable of striking targets “precisely” from 1,000 miles away, according to developer Raytheon.

The U.S. Navy is using the Tomahawk missile in combat operations in the Middle East, and future Block V capabilities will include a ship-sinking variant known as the Maritime Strike Tomahawk (MST)—designated Block Va—to hit moving targets at sea.

Japan is another Tomahawk customer. It is set to acquire some 400 Tomahawk missiles as part of a $2.35 billion deal announced in 2023, with half of them being the Block V model. Additionally, Japan put in two requests—in 2022 and another in January—for a total of 182 SM-6 missiles worth $1.350 billion.

Tokyo is developing its own ship-sinking weapons as well, including the upgraded Type 12 missile with an estimated range of up to 745 miles. It will enhance Japan’s “standoff” defense capabilities—to intercept and eliminate invading forces at a distance and at an early stage.

It is essential to attack with multiple missiles in synchronization for an effective anti-ship mission against a naval task group with advanced air defense capabilities, Masashi Murano, a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute think tank, told Newsweek in an email.

While a maritime-launched version of the upgraded Type 12 missile is being developed, controlling similar-performance missiles from the same naval vessel would be “a little complicated in terms of mission control and supply/logistics,” Murano said.

Taiwan, which lives under the specter of China’s possible use of force in the future, currently operates both U.S.-made and domestically developed missiles for targeting warships, Kitsch Liao, associate director of the Atlantic Council think tank’s Global China Hub, told Newsweek in an email.

Taiwanese indigenous anti-ship missiles—including the Hsiung Feng III supersonic missile—can be launched from the air, sea or land, Liao said.

Taipei’s U.S.-made Harpoon missiles—with a reported range of 91 miles—can be fired from warships, submarines, aircraft and ground-based launchers. President Donald Trump approved the $2.37 billion sale of 100 Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems and 400 Harpoon missiles to Taiwan in 2020.

Observers believe China is preparing for a potential amphibious invasion of Taiwan in the coming years. Harpoon missiles will enable Taiwan’s military to counter or deter “maritime aggressions, coastal blockades, and amphibious assaults,” the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said at the time.

“An air-launched LRASM for Taiwan represents a very expensive and fragile capability that may not survive the initial onslaught to be of use against the [Chinese] amphibious landing group,” said Liao when asked whether Taiwan should acquire the more advanced LRASM.

What People Are Saying

Alex Luck, Australia-based naval analust, told Newsweek: “The primary limitation for acquisition of further [anti-ship] missiles is the limited pool of delivery platforms [such as fighter aircraft]. LRASM so far will only be used from F/A-18F Super Hornets. The F-35A will require the Block 4-modernization to use the weapon.”

Masashi Murano, senior fellow with the Hudson Institute, told Newsweek: “In order to demonstrate to the Trump administration that Japan’s defense efforts are serious, along with additional acquisition of Tomahawks, the Japanese government may be able to request that the U.S. government prioritize the delivery of MST to Japan over the U.S. Navy.”

Kitsch Liao, associate director of the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, told Newsweek: “There doesn’t seem to be a shortage of [anti-ship] missile systems [in Taiwan]; the issue we should be concerned with are the ability of existing missiles to survive a Chinese first strike, their ability to receive relevant targeting information, and their ability to penetrate Chinese defenses, to include active and passive electronic measures.”

Liu Pengyu, Chinese Embassy spokesperson in Washington, D.C., told Newsweek: “No one should make China an issue in the relations and cooperation between countries, or seek to instigate bloc politics and confrontation.”

What Happens Next

It remains to be seen whether the U.S. will exert more pressure on Australia, Japan, and Taiwan to buy additional American anti-ship missiles, with the Trump administration suggesting on multiple occasions that its allies and partners should boost defense spending.