Japan to Increase Range of Type-12 Missiles to 1,000km for Potential China, North Korea Faceoff

Japan is working on increasing the range of ground-launched Type-12 standoff missiles from 200km to more than 1,000km, putting the Chinese and North Korean coasts within striking distance.

The envisioned weapons would also be ship- and air- launch capable. The country’s Defense Ministry is looking to deploy Type-12 missiles mainly to its far-flung southwestern islands and the Kyushu region, Tokyo-based Yomiuri reported citing unidentified government sources.

The ministry could include requests for the missiles in its initial budget proposal for fiscal 2023, due late August.

The issue gained added momentum after Beijing for the first time launched five ballistic missiles into waters near Okinawa Prefecture earlier this month. Those launches were part of China’s intimidation strategy against self-ruled Taiwan after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island. China considers democratic Taiwan an integral part of its territory that must be brought back into the fold, by force if necessary.

Japan’s defense ministry said the Chinese missiles fell within 200 nautical miles (370km) into waters southwest of Hateruma Island in Okinawa Prefecture. Hateruma Island is located just over 100km from Taiwan.

The launches highlighted the missile gap between the U.S. and China. The latter possesses around 300 ground-based cruise missiles and 1,900 ballistic missiles that could strike Japan. The U.S., bound until 2019 by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, banned all land-based missiles with ranges of 500 km to 5,500 km. It currently does not have any such weapons in its arsenal, though it has started developing missiles in that range.

Nuclear-armed North Korea has hundreds of ballistic missiles capable of hitting Japan. Pyongyang also claims testing a hypersonic weapon designed to evade defenses.

Japan’s Defense White Paper released at the end of July showed an upgraded version of the Type-12 surface-to-ship missile (SSM) shaped like an AGM-158 JASSM, to improve its stealthiness.

The upgraded Type 12 SSM will also implement Up to Date Command (UDTC), which will allow it to receive information about the target via satellite communications while in flight, and more accurately attack moving targets.