Japanese Defense Ministry Announces Standoff Missile Sites, Seeks ¥8.8 Trillion Budget for Fiscal 2026

The Yomiuri Shimbun

18:07 JST, August 30, 2025

The Defense Ministry announced Friday four locations where a new model of long-range standoff missiles for counterattacks will be deployed.

The new missiles, which are fired from the ground, will be deployed at Ground Self-Defense Force camps in Hokkaido, Shizuoka, Kumamoto and Miyazaki prefectures.

The ministry also announced its initial budget requests for the fiscal 2026 government budget. The ministry asks for a total of about ¥1.02 trillion for the standoff missile deployments, and the total amount of requested budget for the fiscal year hits the highest ever at about ¥8.85 trillion, up ¥370.6 billion from the budget for this fiscal year.

In addition, the ministry officially decided to convert the Air Self-Defense Force to an “air and space self-defense force” within fiscal 2026.

The deployments of the long-range missiles will be made earlier than initially scheduled to speed up strengthening deterrent power with China and North Korea in mind.

The ground-launched model of the new long-range missiles, an upgraded version of Type 12 surface-to-ship missiles, will have a range of more than 1,000 kilometers.

The new missiles will be deployed at Camp Kengun in Kumamoto Prefecture in fiscal 2025 and at Camp Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture in fiscal 2027.

Concerning the upgraded new missiles launched from aircraft or ships, deployment will begin in fiscal 2027 instead of the initially planned timing of “fiscal 2028 or later.”

The ship- and aircraft-launched missiles will be operated by the destroyer Teruzuki, whose home port is Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Yokosuka Base in Kanagawa Prefecture, and by F-2 fighters to be deployed to the ASDF’s Hyakuri Base in Ibaraki Prefecture.

Concerning hyper velocity gliding projectiles (HVGPs), which have long ranges and are for defending remote islands, the ministry plans to move the start of deployments forward by one year from fiscal 2026.

By the end of fiscal 2025, HVGPs will be deployed at Camp Fuji. They will also be deployed at Camp Kamifurano in Hokkaido and Camp Ebino in Miyazaki Prefecture in fiscal 2026, when new GSDF units in charge of the HVGPs will be established.

In the ministry’s initial budget request for the fiscal 2026 government budget, the ministry is seeking ¥312.8 billion, the highest ever, for strengthening defense capabilities by utilizing unmanned aerial vehicles.

Of that amount, ¥128.7 billion will be spent mainly for building or improving unmanned water surface vehicles and UAVs flown from ships.

The ministry aims to complete construction of the SHIELD system, which defends coastal regions using drones, by the end of fiscal 2027.

As China is increasingly active in the Pacific Ocean, the ministry plans to launch an office for Pacific defense initiatives which will consider how to manage warning and surveillance activities in the Pacific Ocean.

The ASDF’s capabilities in the space domain will be strengthened, and the conversion of the ASDF to an air and space force will be started.

Also, because China, Russia and some other countries are developing technologies to attack other countries’ satellites, the ministry plans to establish a new SDF unit that will specialize in operations in the space domain.