The U.S. military is for the first time bringing some of its most advanced missile systems for keeping Chinese forces at bay to joint training with the Self-Defense Forces, part of a gradual shift in policy that will also see Tokyo deploy its own longer-range weapons.
The Typhon midrange missile system and the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) are being “temporarily” deployed and will feature in the Resolute Dragon drills held jointly by the U.S. Marines and the Ground Self-Defense Force in Okinawa Prefecture and other parts of the country from Sept. 11 to Sept. 25 as part of rehearsals for retaking occupied remote islands.
Under Japan’s “exclusively defense-oriented policy,” Tokyo had long appeared resistant to positioning such weapons in the country, even for joint drills.
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