Japan will deploy the Type 12 Surface-to-Ship Missile and the Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectile to bases in the north, central and southern regions between 2025 and 2027.
Japan’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced on Aug. 29, 2025, its plans to formally deploy upgraded Type-12 and Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectile (HVGP) long-range stand-off missiles between 2025 and 2027, as a part of what has been described as a counterstrike capability. The announcement came in the run up to China’s Victory Day Parade, and a general upgunning by Japan.
As part of this effort, Japan is buying standoff weapons like the U.S.-made AGM-158 JASSM, which can be deployed from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) F-35s and F-15s. Additionally, in Jan. 2024, Tokyo ordered 400 BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM) for the JMSDF’s (Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force) warships.
Then, in April, the MoD also contracted Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to develop a new long-range surface to ship/surface to surface precision missile. These efforts come alongside Japan’s participation in the sixth generation GCAP program, and enhancing collaboration with participant nations U.K. and Italy to firm up its fifth-generation F-35B Lightning II capability.
In the recently concluded Talisman Sabre multinational exercise in Australia, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s (JGSDF) 2nd Artillery Brigade also live-fired the older Type 12 SSM off its east coast, said the Australian Department of Defense on Jul. 23. The HVGP is what we concluded, in a Jul. 2024 report, was a Hypersonic Glide Vehicle (HGV)-type weapon, after it was tested in California in March 2024.
Japan’s first domestically produced short-range ballistic missile (with MaRV) aka Hyper Velocity Glide Projectile/HVGP. pic.twitter.com/vPb4t2Ons4
— Masashi MURANO🚀 (@show_murano) February 7, 2025
To support the buildup, Japan is boosting military spending to 2% of GDP by 2027, from an earlier level of about 1%. “The MoD has requested a record 8.8 trillion yen ($59.9 billion) in the fiscal 2026 budget to focus on long-range missiles and drones before China, North Korea, and Russia,” said the Associated Press.
Missile deployments
While the MoD has neither explicitly identified the missiles nor revealed the regions where they would be based, Japanese reports have published illustrated maps showing bases in the north, central and southern regions, as well as the type of weapon they would host. The Asahi Shimbun said Camp Kumifurano in the Hokkaido Prefecture – in the north of the country – will host the HVGP by 2026.
In the eastern-central region, Hyakuri Air Base in the Ibaraki Prefecture, which already hosts F-2 fighters, will receive the new Type-12 by 2027. The weapon will also be installed on the JMSDF’s destroyer JS Teruzuki, based at Kanagawa naval base, by 2027, while between 2025 and 2027 both the Type-12 and the HVGP will be delivered to Camp Fuji in the Shizuoka prefecture “for training purposes,” TAS added.
UPDATED: On August 29, Japan’s Ministry of Defense announced the deployment locations of improved Type 12 surface-to-ship missiles, as well as their Hyper Velocity Glide Projectiles (HVGP).
Below is a TSM map showcasing those locations and the maximum range of those missiles.… pic.twitter.com/Mut0MmsFDb
— Taiwan Security Monitor (@TaiwanMonitor) August 31, 2025
Meanwhile, southern Japan bases – including Camp Kengun in the Kumamoto Prefecture and Camp Ebino in Miyazaki – will receive the Type-12 and HVGP respectively between 2025 and 2026. This implies that the Type-12 has ship- and air-launched versions, being already included in the Engineering Manufacturing Development (EMD) stage, reflecting the considerable planning and foresight.
Lastly, this also suggests the road-mobile HVGP has neared completion, given that the declared deployments are very close. This was first evident in the sudden announcement of the missile’s test in California in March 2024, where the location outside Japan could have been chosen to avoid attracting surveillance attention from North Korea and China.
A Feb. 7, 2020, press release from Japan’s MoD announced the first test launch by Aug. 25, 2024, which clearly moved up to March that year. The other dates released were Nov. 2, Nov. 23 and Jan. 25, 2025, but it is not clear if these trials have taken place.
U.S. help with Japanese hypersonic weapon
The U.S. help in developing the project was further revealed in a March 2025 DSCA notice about “Japan – Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectiles Capability Support” under a Foreign Military Sale (FMS). The $200 million contract covered HVGP undisclosed related equipment and services, including “test preparation, test and transportation support.”
The DSCA notice said “The proposed sale will improve Japan’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing defense to remote islands.”
🇺🇸🇯🇵 The US State Department has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Japan of equipment and services in support of its indigenous Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectiles (HVGP) capability, for an estimated cost of $200 million.
Equipment and services would be provided by the… pic.twitter.com/CisqG6pUbE
— Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧 (@ColbyBadhwar) March 10, 2025
The preparation for the test in California, possibly covered by the FMS, might have involved payments towards the facility, possibly Vandenberg Space Force Base, which might have provided transport, storage, launch, test range recovery, radar and telemetry tracking. The base already hosted a similar test of the U.S. Army-U.S. Navy’s collaborative Common Hypersonic Glide Body (CHGB) in December 2024 for the former’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW).
However, it is unclear whether the DSCA notice was for the March 2024 test of the Japanese hypersonic weapon or another upcoming test. Nevertheless, the cooperation between the West and its Asian allies before China is taking shape steadily. As TAS added, “the development of the domestic missiles went off without a hitch.”
Another concept rendering of the HVGP based on Japan MoD procurement plans, shared by defense and arms analyst Colby Badhwar, showed the missile has another Enhanced variant included in its Stage 2 phase, with a more optimized hypersonic front section, planned to be fielded by 2028 or later. Both missiles are meant to target remote islands and aircraft carriers.
Hypersonic weapons of the HGV-type are released by a booster rocket just close to the Earth’s atmosphere and, instead of exiting it completely in a parabolic trajectory, they travel just underneath its limits. They are capable of changing their directions mid-flight, making interception by current generation air defense systems extremely difficult. TAS puts the range of the missile at roughly 1,000 km.
Hurdles
The report also noted potential obstacles, including “obtaining the consent of local communities close to the bases where the missiles will be deployed.”
The reason might be that “the counterstrike capability marks a radical departure from the exclusively defensive posture taken by Japan throughout the postwar era and was only made possible by the revision of national security documents in 2022,” TAS said.
3…2…1…Blast off!
The Second Artillery Brigade of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force launched a Type 12 Surface-to-Ship Missile at 📍 Beecroft Weapons Range, NSW during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025.#YourADF #StrongerTogether #TS25 #TalismanSabre25 @JGSDF_pr @jointstaffpa pic.twitter.com/K3An0RMRmp
— Defence Australia (@DefenceAust) July 22, 2025
Another challenge for the SDFs would be redistributing its ammunition depots, which have been concentrated in Hokkaido since the Cold War. The surging cost of semiconductors is also a concern.
Lastly, the SDF would have to rely on the United States for targeting information, since only Washington has the airborne and satellite ISR capability to support missiles at 1,000 km ranges.
