Japan has signed a $ 2.7 billion deal with Mitsubishi for developing long-range missiles amidst increasing tensions with China
Japan has announced plans to develop and build an array of advanced long-range missiles to strengthen its defences amidst increasing tensions with neighbour China.
The Defence Ministry of Japan said has signed contracts worth U.S. $ 2.8 billion with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to develop and mass produce the weapons under the National Security Strategy, which was announced by the Prime Minister of Japan – Fumio Kishida in December 2022, to significantly increase its military power to deter potential threats from China, North Korea and Russia.
Kishida instructed the Defence and Finance Ministries to secure funds to increase Japan’s defence budget to 2% of current GDP in 2027. Japan plans to nearly double its military spending over the next 5 years to U.S. $ 322 billion.
Under the new deals, MHI will begin mass production of ground-launched Type 12 guided missiles and hypersonic glide missiles this year. The ground-launched Type 12 guided missiles are designed to target ships at sea while the hypersonic glide missiles are designed for island defence. The development of these weapons is scheduled for 2026. The Ministry of Defence has not specified the number of missiles it will acquire.
The upgraded version of Type 12 will have a range of up to 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), which is 5 times the reach of the current version. At the same time, MHI will begin development of submarine-launched missiles that could be fired by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s fleet of conventionally powered boats. Due to limited land space at home, Japan plans to hold pre-deployment missile tests at military bases in the U.S.
Along with the development of Japan’s own missiles, Kishida said that Japan will buy as many as 400 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles from the United States (U.S.). Tomahawks can hit targets as far as 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) away.
Japan’s military build-up comes amid the increasing tensions with China, which has been growing its naval and air forces in areas near Japan while claiming the Senkaku Islands, an uninhabited Japanese-controlled chain in the East China Sea, as its sovereign territory.
Meanwhile, China has been upping its military pressure on Taiwan, the self-ruled island whose security is vital to that of Japan. Besides, Japan recently scrambled fighter jets as a Chinese aircraft carrier group came within 230 kilometers (143 miles) of the Southern Japanese island of Miyako while it simulated strikes on Taiwan.
