Japan is contemplating deploying F-35B stealth fighters and shore-based anti-ship missile units on Kyushu Island next year to bolster its defense capabilities, Jiji Press reported yesterday.
Due to increased military intimidation by China against Okinawa Prefecture, Japan and regions around Taiwan, the Japanese Ministry of Defense plans to expand its Self-Defense Forces units on Kyushu, the news agency said.
The plan to boost defense on Kyushu would be implemented together with a solution to a lack of defense on the Nansei Islands, which are between Kyushu and Taiwan, it said.
Photo: Reuters
During Japanese Minister of Defense Minoru Kihara’s meeting with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Thursday last week, the two agreed to increase the presence of Japan and the US to prepare for a potential Taiwan contingency, it said.
“The Amami Islands and Okinawa ... are no longer at the forefront, and Kyushu no longer the rear,” the news agency cited a ministry official as saying.
China’s H6 bombers, which have frequently been spotted around Okinawa, are said to be capable of carrying land-to-ground cruise missiles with a range of more than 1,500km, the official said.
There is an urgent need for Japan to boost its defense capabilities, as the engagement range of such weapons is increasing, they added.
Japan plans to have six F-35B fighters, which have short takeoff and vertical landing capabilities, delivered from the US next year for the first time, and establish a temporary unit at the Nyutabaru Air Base in Kyushu’s Miyazaki Prefecture, Jiji Press reported.
The fighters would be used on Japanese helicopter carrier the JS Izumo and aircraft carrier the JS Kaga to maintain air superiority over Japan’s southwest region, it said.
The ministry would establish a new shore-based anti-ship missile unit in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Yufuin Garrison in Kyushu’s Oita Prefecture, which would be quickly deployed to prevent enemy troops from advancing during an emergency, the news agency said.
The Self-Defense Forces Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, which is tasked with defending and recapturing outlying islands, would also be strengthened, it said.
The two-regiment structure would be increased to three by the end of this year, with the new regiment being deployed at Takematsu Garrison in Nagasaki Prefecture, the news agency said.
Osprey V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft, which transport the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, are to be transferred from Kisarazu Garrison in Chiba Prefecture to Saga City Garrison in Kyushu in July 2025, it said.
There is also a pressing need to protect important facilities to withstand missile attacks, it added.
The ministry would next year move some facilities underground at the Kengun Garrison in Kumamoto Prefecture and the Kasuga Air Base in Fukuoka Prefecture, where the Ground Self-Defense Force’s Western Air Defense Force Headquarters are, it said.
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