Japan has conducted a test launch of a domestically developed ballistic missile in the United States, the government in Tokyo announced.
The Chinese military and North Korea's embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to requests for comment, News.Az reports, citing Newsweek.
Japan, which consists of 14,125 islands in the Western Pacific Ocean, is enhancing its standoff defense capabilities to intercept and eliminate any invading forces "at a distance and at an early stage."
While China has increased its number of medium-range ballistic missiles that are capable of striking American military bases in Japan, North Korea continues to develop nuclear-armed missiles, which are frequently launched toward waters near Japan during tests.
The Japanese Defense Ministry on Friday revealed the development progress of the Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectile, announcing the standoff missile—which is intended for use in defending the nation's many islands—took part in four tests from last August to January in California.
Photos released by the Japanese military showed a ground-based launcher was used for the tests. It is not clear if the missile can be fired from other platforms such as ships.
The Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectile is equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle as its warhead, according to Japanese media. The warhead can evade air and missile defenses by traveling at more than five times the speed of sound and maneuvering within the atmosphere.
Masashi Murano, a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute's Japan Chair, described the new weapon as a short-range ballistic missile armed with a reentry vehicle that can maneuver at hypersonic speeds when it reenters the atmosphere as it heads toward a target.
It is estimated that the Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectile Block 1, the early mass-produced version of the missile that was tested in the U.S., has a range of 310 to 621 miles, Japan's media said, while the missile's longer-range version, the Block 2, is under development.
According to the Japanese Defense Ministry, the island defense missile began mass production in fiscal year 2023, which ran from April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024.
The Japanese Defense Ministry said in a press release: "We plan to complete research on the Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectile for island defense by fiscal year 2025, and will continue to work toward building standoff defense capabilities."
