Japan GSDF Brings Long-Range Missile Equipment into Camp in Kumamoto

Tokyo, March 9 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force has brought launchers and other equipment of sophisticated long-range missiles into its Camp Kengun in the city of Kumamoto, southwestern Japan, in preparation for their deployment, informed sources said Monday. The Defense Ministry has announced that the upgraded Type-12 surface-to-ship guided missile system would be deployed at the camp within March for the first time in the country. The missile system will be a key component of Japan’s counterstrike capabilities, or the ability to strike enemy bases. According to the sources, vehicles carrying the missile equipment departed from the GSDF’s Camp Fuji in the central prefecture of Shizuoka on Saturday and arrived at Camp Kengun in the small hours of Monday. The improved Type-12 missiles can fly some 1,000 kilometers and are known as stand-off missiles, which are capable of attacking an enemy from outside its range. The ministry is speeding up work to build counterstrike capabilities amid the rapidly deteriorating security environment surrounding Japan, such as China’s increasing military activities. Meanwhile, local communities that would host the missile system are increasingly wary because the risk of becoming a target of foreign attacks would increase. “It is very regrettable that the ministry did not give us a prior explanation about the missile equipment transportation (to Camp Kengun) and that we came to know the matter from news reports,” Kazufumi Onishi, mayor of Kumamoto, the capital of the namesake prefecture, has said in a statement while showing some understanding for the planned deployment. The ministry also plans to deploy the Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectile surface-to-surface missile system for the defense of remote islands, also part of the envisaged counterstrike capabilities, to Camp Fuji within this month. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]