Tag: Japan

Considering all the missiles that China has pointed at Japan, Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, and Guam it only makes sense that the US and it allies flood the Pacific with missiles to point right back at them:

The Marine Corps is rehearsing island defense with its two newest missile systems alongside Japanese soldiers on Ishigaki Island, sending “a clear message to any attempt to undermine regional security,” the Marines’ top general on Okinawa said Wednesday. (……)

The systems arrived Monday for the first time on the island about 150 miles east of Taiwan, a spokeswoman with Okinawa’s Military Base Affairs Division said by phone the following day. Some Japanese government officials speak to the press only on condition of anonymity. The generals stood in front of two MADIS systems, a NMESIS system and Japan’s Type 12 Surface-to-Ship Missile and Type 03 Surface-to-Air Missile systems.

NMESIS mounts Naval Strike Missiles on joint light tactical vehicles to target ships at sea. The system plays a key role in the Marines’ Force Design strategy, which calls for littoral regiments to operate within range of enemy fire to seize and hold islands and block hostile vessels from nearby waters. Marines can operate the system remotely from “line of sight” or up to about 200 yards away, Capt. Kurt James, commander of the 12th Littoral Regiment’s Medium-Range Missile Battery, told Stars and Stripes before the news conference. The missiles have a maximum range of 115 miles.

Stars and Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Japan’s defense budget request indicates that they realize the future of warfare is unmanned systems:

Japan’s Ministry of Defense on Friday unveiled a record-high defense spending request of $60.1 billion for fiscal 2026, citing what it called severe and continuing security threats from China and North Korea. The proposal, which would mark Japan’s 14th consecutive annual increase in defense spending, is about $1 billion higher than the current fiscal year’s $59.1 billion budget. (…….)

The budget emphasizes standoff defense, unmanned systems and cross-domain operations to counter increasingly diverse, complex and advanced threats, according to the Defense Ministry document. About $874.8 million is earmarked for unmanned aircraft and unmanned surface and underwater vessels as part of the ministry’s Synchronized, Hybrid, Integrated and Enhanced Littoral Defense program, or SHIELD, set to launch by the end of fiscal 2027. (……)

The ministry also seeks about $7 billion for standoff defense capabilities, including $207.3 million to begin mass production of hypersonic weapons, which travel at speeds above Mach 5 and are difficult to intercept.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.