Japan eyes building missile training site on Pacific island to boost long-range capability

The ministry has already informed local officials of the plan to set up the facilities on Minamitori Island, Japan’s easternmost island, around 1,900km (1,200 miles) southeast of Tokyo, and start its operation in the 2026 financial year or later, the official said.

If realised, the training site would be the first one in the country for missiles with a range of over 100km, according to the official.

Exercises using an upgraded version of the Ground Self-Defence Force’s Type-12 land-to-ship guided missile with an extended range of some 1,000km, being developed toward its deployment in financial year 2025 that starts next April, will possibly be carried out at the new site.

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The plan emerged as Tokyo aims to acquire “counterstrike capabilities” of attacking targets in enemy territory directly in an emergency, with Beijing’s military build-up and provocative activities in waters near Japan, especially the East China Sea, in mind.

The capabilities are aimed at deterring attacks from outside forces by developing and procuring missiles capable of being launched from beyond the range of enemy fire.

The policy is part of the National Security Strategy, the government’s key defence guidelines revamped in late 2022, marking a major shift from Japan’s exclusively defence-oriented policy in the post-war era under its pacifist Constitution.

The GSDF has deployed surface-to-ship missile units in Miyako and Ishigaki islands in the southern prefecture of Okinawa, Uruma on Okinawa’s main island, and Amami-Oshima Island in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima.

Minamitori Island has no civilian population, with only Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force