A joint U.S. and Japanese military exercise will see the temporary deployment of the Typhon intermediate-range missile in Japan, Japanese and U.S. officials have said, a move likely to anger China.
The Typhon system is part of a drive by Washington to amass a variety of anti-ship weapons in Asia. The weapon drew sharp criticism from China when first deployed in the Philippines in 2024, also during a training exercise. A spokesperson for the Ground Self-Defense Force said the Typhon would be deployed to the U.S. Marine Air Station Iwakuni as a part of the Resolute Dragon exercise.
It was unclear if the missile system would be fired as part of the exercise, but the spokesperson said the aim was to enhance deterrence, response capacity and integrated operations.
The Resolute Dragon exercise runs from Sept. 11 to Sept. 25. The Tomahawk cruise missiles in the launchers can hit targets in both China and Russia from the Philippines, while the SM-6 missiles it also carries can strike air or sea targets more than 200 kilometers away.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Friday said that the temporary deployment was another “destabilizing step” by Washington.
“We view this as yet another destabilizing step in Washington’s policy of building up capabilities of its ground-based short- and intermediate-range missiles for the purpose of forward deployment of such systems in various regions of the world,” ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.
AloJapan.com