A U.S. Army M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, takes part in live-fire drills at Yausubetsu Training Area in Hokkaido, Japan, Sept. 21, 2026. (Steve Asfall/U.S. Army)
The U.S. Army will temporarily store its mid-range missile system, Typhon, and High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa starting in mid-October, according to Japan’s Defense Ministry.
The rocket systems will be moved from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Kanoya Air Base on Kyushu to Kadena via U.S. Air Force Globemaster III aircraft, according to an information sheet posted Friday on the Okinawa Defense Bureau’s website. The bureau is an arm of the Ministry of Defense.
The Army’s 3rd Multi-Domain Task Force temporarily deployed an unspecified number of the systems to Kanoya during the biennial Valiant Shield exercise in June and July and the annual Orient Shield exercise, which concluded Thursday, according to the ministry.
No operational units will be transferred to Kadena and no increase in personnel is expected, according to the document. Storing the missiles does not mean they will be permanently deployed in Japan, the document states.
It did not say when the systems would arrive at Kadena or how long they would remain.
U.S. Army Japan spokeswoman Maj. LeeAnn Sagucio declined to provide more details in an email Monday, citing operational security. The 18th Wing at Kadena acknowledged phone and email inquiries Monday but did not immediately respond.
Kadena town, which shares the air base along with Chatan town and Okinawa city, objects to the weapons being within its borders, even without an increase in personnel, a spokesman for the town Base Liaison Division said by phone Monday.
The town planned to file a formal protest with the Defense Bureau on Monday afternoon, he said. Some Japanese government officials must speak to the press on condition of anonymity.
The Typhon system includes launchers, missiles and a battery operations center and can fire both SM-6 and Tomahawk missiles. It is designed to bridge the gap between the Army’s precision-strike and long-range hypersonic missiles.
The Army first fired Typhon in the Western Pacific in July 2025, striking a target at sea from Bradshaw Training Area in Australia during the Talisman Sabre exercise.
During the Balikatan exercise in April and May, the Army used the system to strike a target nearly 400 miles away on the Philippines’ main island of Luzon for the first time.
HIMARS and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s MLRS — the Multiple Launch Rocket System — were fired Sept. 22 at Yausubetsu Training Area in eastern Hokkaido as part of Orient Shield, according to U.S. Army Japan.
The Ground Self-Defense Force has said Orient Shield is not directed at a specific country or region. However, this year’s exercise coincided with tensions between Japan and Russia over Etorofu, Kunashiri and Shikotan islands and the Habomai islet group.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova protested the live-fire training, telling reporters in Vladivostok on Sept. 1 that “provocative military activity near our country’s far eastern borders is categorically unacceptable,” according to a report by Reuters news agency the same day.
She also objected to the Typhon deployment on Kyushu in comments posted Sept. 18 on the ministry’s website.
AloJapan.com