Japan to Deploy Long-Range Counterstrike Missiles

Tokyo, March 9 (Jiji Press)–A long-range missile system will be deployed at the Ground Self-Defense Force’s Camp Kengun in the southwestern Japan city of Kumamoto on March 31, the Kyushu Defense Bureau said Monday. The upgraded Type-12 surface-to-ship guided missile system, a key component of Japan’s counterstrike capabilities, or the ability to strike enemy bases, will be deployed for the first time in the country. In the small hours of Monday, vehicles carrying launchers and other equipment from the GSDF’s Camp Fuji in the central prefecture of Shizuoka arrived at Camp Kengun. 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. These missiles are also slated to be deployed in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido and the southwestern prefecture of Miyazaki in stages starting in fiscal 2026. The Defense Ministry is speeding up work to build counterstrike capabilities amid the rapidly deteriorating security environment around Japan, including China’s increasing military activities. Meanwhile, local communities that will host the missile system are increasingly concerned that they could become targets of foreign attacks. “It’s very regrettable that the ministry didn’t give us a prior explanation about the missile equipment transportation (to Camp Kengun) and that we came to know the matter from news reports,” Kumamoto Mayor Kazufumi Onishi said in a statement, while showing some understanding for the planned deployment. The Kyushu Defense Bureau said that it will show the missile system to Onishi and Kumamoto Governor Takashi Kimura, as well as local assembly members, on March 17. The Defense 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.]