Japanese crews ready the Type 25 stand-off missile for a mock anti-ship strike at Ohnohara

Japan's Ministry of Defense on Sunday 25 October showed reporters the Ground Self-Defense Force's Type 25 surface-to-ship missile deployed in the field for the first time, at the Ohnohara training area on the border of Nagasaki and Saga prefectures in western Japan. The display formed part of Keen Sword, the large joint exercise between the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the United States military that runs from 19 to 29 October.

According to the Joint Staff, which organised the press event, the Type 25 had not left Camp Kengun in Kumamoto city since it was deployed there in March. Until now, the unit had practised handling the vehicles only inside the camp. Kengun holds the launchers, ammunition carriers, fire control equipment and command and control systems that operate together as one missile system.

The scene shown to the press was one part of an anti-ship combat drill that assumes enemy vessels are approaching Japan. About ten soldiers from the 5th Surface-to-Ship Missile Regiment, which is based at Kengun under the 2nd Artillery Brigade, took part. A few soldiers carrying rifles climbed down from a medium truck and checked the surroundings, then the truck-mounted launcher moved into an open grassy area. Within minutes the crew raised the launch tubes to an angle and declared the system ready to fire.

No missile was fired and no live round was loaded, according to the local Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun. United States forces did not take part in this segment, although the ministry said the unit will practise gathering target information together with American forces during the exercise. Heavy rain fell over the training area during the display, Kyodo News reported.

The Type 25 is one of the stand-off missiles Japan is acquiring for what the government calls counterstrike capability, the ability to hit enemy bases that it adopted with China's growing military activity in mind. The Mainichi Shimbun reported that the missile has a range of about 1,000 km, which would put almost all of the Korean Peninsula and the eastern coast of China within reach of launchers in Kyushu.

Kyodo reported that the ministry wants the exercise to show that the first deployed Type 25 unit can actually operate, and that further deployments are planned across the country. Within Keen Sword, the missile unit is supporting training in which forces work together against enemy warships in waters off Shikoku and southwest of Kyushu. The news agency also noted that the shift away from Japan's long-standing purely defensive posture and the speed of the missile build-up may draw stronger objections from neighbouring countries.

The Type 25 is part of a wider stand-off build-up. The Mainichi Shimbun said a separate weapon, the Type 25 hyper-velocity gliding projectile, was deployed at Camp Fuji in Shizuoka at the end of March, and that the Aegis destroyer Chokai returned to Sasebo in August after gaining the ability to launch American-made Tomahawk cruise missiles. The ministry plans to add long-range anti-ship missile launch capability to navy escort ships and air force fighters so that it can fire from land, sea and air.

Keen Sword began in 1985 and alternates with Keen Edge, a command post exercise. This year about 45,000 Japanese personnel and about 12,000 US personnel are taking part at bases and training areas across Japan, with training covering land, sea and air forces as well as space and cyber operations.