New Delhi: Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has clinched a deal to develop new long-range, precision-guided missiles in a 32 billion yen ($216 million) contract for the Japan Self-Defence Force. The Ministry of Defence indicated in a news release April 1 that the contract is part of plans to boost standoff missile capabilities as the Asian nation faces multiple regional threats.
The contract with MHI to develop new ground-to-ground and ground-to-ship precision-guided missiles will last until 2028. The ministry expects the new missiles to be completed in 2032. The missiles will be used to “prevent and eliminate invading troops,” the Ministry of Defence said. The ministry has not released any additional information about the missiles but included in the press release a few diagrams showing its expected capabilities.
The long-range missiles could target vulnerable parts of ships and traverse Japan’s mountainous terrains to hit land-based targets with “particularly high accuracy.”
Since 2022, Japan has been beefing up its capabilities as part of its “three white papers,” the National Security Strategy, the National Defence Strategy, and the Defence Buildup Plan. Japan has allocated approximately 939 billion yen for standoff defence capabilities. The budget includes allocations for Type 12 surface-to-ship missiles (16.8 billion yen, or $112.6 million); submarine-launched guided missiles (3 billion yen, or $20.1 million); and high-velocity gliding missiles for island defence (29.3 billion yen, or $160.2 million).
The Asian nation also plans to acquire joint strike missiles to be installed on its F-35As and joint air-to-surface stand-off missile for its upgraded F-15 aircraft. Last year, Japan signed a deal to purchase 400 additional Tomahawk missiles from the United States and declared plans to deploy a year earlier than planned some Tomahawks and Type 12 surface-to-ship truck-mounted missiles this year.
Earlier this week, the country’s defence ministry also announced its latest missile co-production project with the US to develop AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles during US defence secretary Pete Hegseth’s visit to Japan. During the visit, Hegseth called Japan “an indispensable partner in deterring Communist Chinese military aggression.”
