The Mainichi newspaper reported that the Japanese government is considering developing guided missiles with a range of up to 3,000 kilometers and deploying them at a later stage in various parts of the country, including on the island of Hokkaido.
The newspaper said that the range of the “class 12 anti-ship missiles” currently used by Japan exceeds 100 km. As part of a plan to improve the country’s defense capabilities, Tokyo plans to upgrade it to increase its range to more than 1,000 km. The possibility of manufacturing new missiles, including hypersonic ones with a range of 2-3 thousand km, is also being studied.
The newspaper added that the subsequent deployment of these missiles will consist of 3 stages. At the first stage of modernization of missiles with a range of about 1000 km, these missiles will be deployed on the Nansei Islands. This is expected to happen in 2026.
At the second stage, missiles with a range of about 2000 kilometers are supposed to be deployed on the island of Honshu. The likely location of these missiles are the areas around Mount Vodzi. The newspaper did not name the timing of this stage.
As for the third stage, it requires the deployment of missiles with a range of about 3,000 kilometers on the northern island of Hokkaido, and this is expected to be done in the mid-30s of this century.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a speech in early October that his country would explore every avenue to protect its population, including the possibility of retaliation. By the end of this year, the Japanese authorities must submit 3 updated documents in the field of defense, namely the national security strategy, the provisions of the national defense program and the medium-term defense program.
