Japan will deploy long-range missiles on the southern island of Kyushu next year due to the regional tensions and uncertainties of the Trump administration regarding its commitments to security alliances. These missiles are estimated to have a range of about 1,000 km which makes them applicable to strike North Korean and coastal Chinese targets.
Strengthening the defenses of Japan
According to Kyodo News, the missiles will be located in two Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) bases which are already built around missile garrisons. Such deployment in Japan is part of developing an effective retaliatory capacity in the event of an attack.
It will create missile defenses along the Okinawa island chain, which is a critical geography region. For Japan, however, it is not to be stationed explicitly in Okinawa since that could provoke China further because the proximity is very near, just 110 km from Taiwan. The region already has several shorter-range ballistic missile batteries.
Comment from Specialists
Security analysts argue that this is all the more natural reaction against an increasingly menacing China and a threatening north.
“As regional threats continue to increase, Japan will need to improve its defense systems using even more effective weapons,” said the Fukui Prefectural University’s Professor Emeritus Yoichi Shimada.
In the long run, he concluded that long-range missiles serve Japan’s national security and strengthen US-Japan relations through a more proactive approach to defense.
https://x.com/Defence_IDA/status/1901668843950399798
Where the Missiles Would Be Deployed?
Japan is considering two GSDF bases in Kyushu to house missile systems:
- Camp Yufuin in Oita
- Camp Kengun in Kumamoto
Currently, both bases have missile systems; the addition will be upgraded versions of GSDF’s Type-12 land-to-ship guided missiles.
Broad Framework: Is Japan Revisioning Its Strategy for Security?
It is part of a military build-up that Japan is embarking upon to face changes in the dynamics of the world.
“Japan must rethink its security policy given changing geopolitics,” he said.
He added that in case Japan started losing faith in American military assistance, it might start a debate about nuclear warheads, a subject almost taboo since the end of the Second World War.
With the US being the historical bastion of Japan’s defense, the present geopolitical realities make the nation more inclined to self-reliance in militaristic matters. To what extent this paradigm shift occurs depends on the time laid out in the future.
