Image source: topwar.ru
The Japanese authorities continue to rapidly increase and rearm the country's Self-Defense Forces. Despite the "peaceful" name, Japan's Self-Defense Forces have long been powerful and well-armed, their combat capability is increasing from year to year. Now Tokyo is considering the possibility of increasing the number of missile defense units by almost three times.
The new missile defense systems are planned to be deployed by 2031 on the remote southwestern islands of Japan. There is no doubt that such a decision is being made in the context of the general increase in tension in the Asia-Pacific region, and the south-western direction shows the orientation of missile defense to possible threats from China.
The country's authorities expect to include a plan to increase the number of missile defense systems in the Guidelines of the government's national defense program, a 10-year defense buildup policy that will be updated by the end of 2022. According to the draft, Japan will increase the number of missile defense units on the Nansei Islands, a chain of islands stretching southwest from Kyushu towards Taiwan, to 11 from the current four. Six units will be located in Okinawa Prefecture, and one on Amami—Oshima Island in the southwest of Kagoshima Prefecture.
Image source: topwar.ru
These units should be able to intercept the missiles of a potential enemy in the event of an aggravation of the situation in the region and the outbreak of an armed conflict. The plan also emphasizes that the Type-03 medium-range missiles of the Ground Self-Defense Forces, originally designed to intercept aircraft, will be upgraded so that they can shoot down ballistic missiles of a likely enemy.
In addition, Japan is exploring the possibilities of countering hypersonic weapons, which are being developed by Russia and China. China and the DPRK are considered the main threats to Tokyo's security today, first of all, Russia – second of all. The events in Ukraine were also used by the Japanese authorities as an argument for further increasing military spending, although Ukraine is very far from Japan and has nothing to do with its geopolitical or economic interests.
Now Tokyo is increasingly saying that the country should acquire strike capabilities, since missile defense alone is allegedly not enough to protect against countries such as China, North Korea and Russia. Thus, Japan is actually revising its defense policy, which was formed after the Second World War.
