By Wen Weiru
Japanese media reported that the Japanese government recently decided to deploy its anti-ship missile that is still under development in 2023, three years earlier than the planned 2026, a move that’s interpreted as symbolizing Japan’s accelerated steps to break the restrictions on its military development.
Japan is strengthening mid-range assault capacity.
It is learned that the missile to be deployed in advance is the modified version of the type-12 anti-ship missile, a weapon that started R&D in 1992 and was deployed in 2015. The missile is 5m long, 350mm in diameter, and about 700kg in weight, with a maximal speed of Mach 0.9 and a maximal shooting range of 200km.
Since the type-12 anti-ship missile was deployed, the Japanese government has all long been dissatisfied with its 200km range. Therefore, it decided in December 2020 to put forth a program to upgrade the missile in three aspects and deploy it in 2026.
First, Tokyo wants to increase the missile’s shooting range. The initial target is to double the range to 400km; in the long term, it plans to reach 900km and 1,500km in two stages, meeting the standard for mid-range missiles.
Second, Tokyo wants to expand the launching platform. At present, the type-12 anti-ship missile is launched from a land-based launching pad, but Japan wants to develop sea-based, air-based, and even submarine-based missiles if possible to make type-12 a tri-purpose weapon.
Third, Tokyo wants to enhance the missile’s attack performance. The type-12 anti-ship missile is mainly used to hit targets on the sea. After being upgraded, it is a ship-borne ballistic missile targeting land objects and can attack enemy port or missile-launching site, thus forming the so-called enemy base strike capability.
Japan is coordinating America’s military deployment.
Japan is so eager to deploy a weapon before it’s even completely developed because it cannot wait to achieve the following strategic intentions.
For one thing, it can revise the weapon development plan and make modifications along the way. Japan has announced a so-called agile development approach to test missiles when they are still under development but have acquired some functions. The testing of missiles by frontline troops in real combat can help improve the performance. Moreover, Japan has sped up the R&D of its hypersonic missile in recent years and announced breakthroughs in key technologies. Its compression of the time for testing and evaluating the anti-ship missile and the earlier deployment this time is aimed at filling the blank in mid-range defense and attack before the hypersonic missile is fully developed.
For another, it is looking for an opportunity to break the restrictions on its military development. Japan’s earlier deployment of the anti-ship missile, on the pretext of a complicated international situation and serious security threats to the region, is in fact intended to pave the way for lifting the restrictions on its military strengths. It’s Tokyo’s usual trick to gradually upgrade its weapons and equipment and break through restrictions by hyping up regional security threats.
For a third thing, Japan is coordinating the US military deployments. As the US military has adjusted its deployments in the West Pacific, Japan has kept intensifying the strategic coordination with its “big brother”, sparing no effort to serve as a pawn in America’s “Indo-Pacific strategy”. The earlier deployment of anti-ship missile this time is not just an eager answer to America’s request for Japan to play a bigger role, but also a declaration of their military alliance to the outside world.
