Japan becomes the third country outside the United States to fire a Tomahawk from a surface combatant, with Australia and the Netherlands having previously done so. The other operator of the missile, the United Kingdom, has only fired Tomahawks from submarines. Launch of the first Tomahawk missile from Chōkai at an undisclosed location in the Pacific. For decades, Japan’s Aegis destroyers have been optimized almost exclusively for fleet air defense and ballistic missile defense missions. Although the ships are being designed around the ballistic missile defense, or BMD, mission, Defense Ministry officials say that a Tomahawk capability will be added later.