Japan deploys Type 25 Anti-Ship Missile in first field exercise with US targeting support.

The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force conducted its inaugural public deployment exercise featuring the Type 25 Surface-to-Ship Guided Missile at the Onohara Training Area during exercise Keen Sword 27. On October 25, 2026, a mobile 8x8 launcher unit from the 5th Surface-to-Ship Missile Regiment erected its canisters into firing position within two minutes to rehearse anti-ship targeting using shared U.S. and Japanese tactical data. The drill demonstrates operational integration of Japan’s upgraded 1,000 km strike system, allowing island defense units to cover critical maritime passages across the East China Sea directly from Kyushu.

The Type 25 Surface-to-Ship Guided Missile (25SSM) was first publicly unveiled in its operational launcher configuration on October 3, 2026, at JGSDF Camp Kengun in Kumamoto. (Picture source: Japanese MoD)

On October 25, 2026, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) conducted its first public deployment exercise with the Type 25 Surface-to-Ship Guided Missile (25 SSM) at the Onohara Training Area, spanning Nagasaki and Saga prefectures, during the Keen Sword 27 joint exercise with the United States, as previously announced by General Masayoshi Arai. A launcher from the 5th Surface-to-Ship Missile Regiment at Camp Kengun, Kumamoto, arrived at 9:20 a.m., with personnel securing the position before raising its four missile canisters into firing position in less than two minutes. Approximately ten soldiers rehearsed targeting an enemy warship using information from U.S. forces and Japanese higher headquarters, without firing a missile.

The exercise involved one launcher and formed part of Keen Sword 27, held from October 19 to 29 with approximately 40,000 Japanese troops, 12,000 U.S. personnel and participants from seven additional countries. The Type 25, introduced on March 31, 2026, has a nominal range of 1,000 km, five times that of the original Type 12, allowing launchers positioned on Kyushu to cover much of the East China Sea without moving to Japan's southwestern islands. The Type 25 SSM originated from Japan's December 18, 2020, decision to develop an extended-range Type 12 missile compatible with ground, naval and aerial launch. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) received development and production contracts announced on April 11, 2023, including work on a separate submarine-launched missile.

Related topic: Japan completes Type 12 surface-to-ship missile deployment to protect strategic straits against Chinese naval expansion

The initial ground-launched development program covered fiscal years 2021 to 2025 with a budget of ¥39.4 billion, increasing to ¥99.9 billion for the three launch configurations. Development incorporated technologies from the Type 12, Type 17, and ASM-3 missile families. Five launch tests took place at Niijima between October and November 2024, followed by seven ground-launched firings in California during October and November 2025. Successful flight testing was confirmed on December 19, 2025, before the completed ground-launched missile received its Type 25 designation and entered service with the 5th Surface-to-Ship Missile Regiment on March 31, 2026. Production had already begun during fiscal 2023, allowing deployment before the original schedule, although total procurement expenditure and the number of missiles manufactured remain undisclosed. 

How Japan extended the Type 12 missile range from 200 km to 1,000 km

The Type 25 replaces the original Type 12's turbojet engine with a more fuel-efficient turbofan engine, incorporates enlarged folding wings, and uses an angular fuselage with aligned edges to reduce radar cross-section. The earlier Type 12 measures 5 m in length and 350 mm in diameter, weighs 700 kg, and combines a solid-fuel launch booster, inertial navigation, GPS correction, and active radar terminal homing. The Type 25 retains its booster-assisted ground launch but increases the nominal range from 200 km to 1,000 km through several changes across propulsion, aerodynamics, and fuel capacity. Development initially targeted a range of 900 km, with 1,500 km identified as a subsequent objective rather than a confirmed capability. Satellite-mediated communications between the missile and ground equipment were also incorporated into development requirements to support targeting beyond the launching unit's radar horizon.

The missile's actual dimensions, launch weight, warhead mass, cruise speed, radar seeker detection range and maneuvering limits remain undisclosed, preventing direct calculations of flight endurance, payload capacity or terminal engagement performance. The Type 25 is carried by an approximately 11 m-long heavy 8x8 truck launcher equipped with four enclosed missile canisters, compared with six on the original Type 12 vehicle. Its initial operator, the 5th Surface-to-Ship Missile Regiment, belongs to the 2nd Artillery Brigade of the Japanese Western Army. An original Type 12 firing company operates one to four launchers, one to four ammunition transport vehicles, one fire control vehicle, two target acquisition radar vehicles, a communications relay, and a command vehicle. Four Type 12 launchers provide 24 ready missiles, with another 24 carried by four ammunition vehicles.

How the Type 25 SSM could change Japan's long-range maritime defense

Four Type 25 launchers would instead carry 16 ready missiles, although the new company's actual organization and reload capacity have not been established. The October 25 exercise demonstrated a launcher positioning in less than two minutes, but this interval excluded transportation from Camp Kengun, establishment of supporting communications, ammunition loading and subsequent relocation. Neither the number of operational Type 25 launchers nor their reload time, displacement time, or ammunition stocks has been disclosed, limiting the assessment of the regiment's sustained firing capacity. From Kumamoto, the Type 25's nominal range of 1,000 km covers the Chinese coastline near Shanghai, much of the Korean Peninsula and substantial portions of the East China Sea. Increasing the Type 12's range from 200 km to 1,000 km also expands the theoretical circular coverage area from 125,664 km² to 3,141,593 km², a factor of 25, although actual engagement coverage is constrained by geography, targeting, and missile performance.

However, effective engagement distance depends on target detection and continuous tracking, not simply the missile's maximum flight range. A warship traveling at 20 knots covers 37.0 km in one hour, while one traveling at 30 knots covers 55.6 km; during a hypothetical two-hour missile flight, the corresponding movements would be 74.1 km and 111.1 km. The Type 25's actual flight duration remains unknown, but these distances illustrate why targeting coordinates may require updating during long-range engagements. Ground-based coastal radar cannot maintain direct line-of-sight tracking of surface vessels at 1,000 km, thus requiring external surveillance from aircraft, ships or satellites. The October exercise rehearsed receiving U.S. and Japanese targeting information, and Japan's planned satellite constellations are intended to improve persistent surveillance, although their tracking intervals, transmission latency and integration with Type 25 units remain unspecified. 

Japan also plans to equip warships and F-2 fighters with longer-range missiles

Japan plans additional Type 25 deliveries to Camp Kengun during fiscal 2026 and deployment at Camp Fuji in Shizuoka during fiscal 2027. The fiscal 2025 budget funded two sets of ground-launched equipment, without specifying their missile quantities. Naval integration is scheduled for fiscal 2027 aboard the Akizuki-class destroyer Teruzuki (DD-116), a 150.5 m warship displacing approximately 6,800 tonnes at full load and equipped with FCS-3A radar, 32 Mk 41 vertical-launch cells and existing anti-ship missile launchers. An air-launched configuration is also planned for modified F-2 fighters of the 7th Air Wing at Hyakuri, with eight aircraft modifications funded in fiscal 2024 and another eight in fiscal 2025.

On July 30, 2026, for instance, an F-2B at Gifu carried two large improved Type 12 missiles without the ground version's solid-fuel boosters. These configurations would distribute long-range strike capability between ground units, destroyers and aircraft, although final missile inventories, naval installation quantities and air-launched performance remain unconfirmed. The Type 25 entered service alongside the Type 25 Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectile (25HGP), introduced at Camp Fuji on March 31, 2026, with an initial range of several hundred kilometers and a high-speed gliding trajectory rather than turbofan-powered cruise flight. Additional 25HGP deployments are planned at Camp Kamifurano in Hokkaido and Camp Ebino in Miyazaki during fiscal 2026.

Japan is also acquiring U.S.-manufactured Tomahawk cruise missiles, with the destroyer Chokai returning to Sasebo in August 2026 after being equipped with this capability, while lower-cost long-range strike drones remain part of future procurement plans. Japan has not established the number of Type 25 missiles available, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' annual production capacity, or operational replenishment rates. Consequently, the four-missile launcher configuration and planned geographical expansion cannot establish how many engagements Japan could sustain. Therefore, the Type 25 SSM extends Japan's ground-based anti-ship reach by 800 km, but its operational value logically remains dependent on external target tracking, missile availability, launcher survivability and sustained resupply.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.