TOKYO - The Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force will incorporate its long-range missiles into a major Japan-U.S. joint drill starting in October, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
It will be the first time that the Type-25 surface-to-ship guided missile, deployed to a camp in southwestern Japan in March as a counterstrike weapon, will take part in a large-scale exercise, it said.
The drill involving some 45,000 SDF personnel will take place at Camp Kengun in Kumamoto Prefecture and Onohara Maneuver Area straddling Nagasaki and Saga prefectures, the ministry said.
The upcoming Keen Sword field training exercise involving the U.S. military and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces from Oct. 19 to 29 will not involve the actual firing of the missiles, it said.
In the face of security challenges posed by China and North Korea, including Pyongyang's advancing nuclear and missile development programs, Japan has been moving to acquire counterstrike capabilities and boost its defense spending in a dramatic shift in its postwar security policy under the nation's war-renouncing Constitution.
