Japan will increase defense spending by more than a quarter next year, including $1.6 billion to buy American-made Tomahawk cruise missiles that will be part of its largest military buildup since World War II, Reuters reports.

The 26.3 percent increase to a record 6.82 trillion yen ($51.7 billion) for the year beginning April 1 would more than triple Japan's spending on weapons.

The budget, which lawmakers will approve before April, provides 897 billion yen for weapons development, more than the previous four years combined. Japan will use nearly half of that amount to develop new longer-range missiles that, together with the Tomahawks, will give it the ability to hit targets more than 1,000 kilometers away, including in China.

Tokyo plans to begin deploying these new weapons in about three years, a Defense Ministry spokesman told a briefing.

Japan, which gave up the right to wage war after its defeat in World War II, plans to double defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product within five years.

To bolster its air combat capabilities, it also plans to buy 16 F-35 stealth fighters for 250 billion yen.

Japan has also earmarked 102 billion yen next year for a joint project with Britain and Italy to develop jet fighters, announced this month, aimed at putting an advanced aircraft into service by 2035.