The Japanese Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced on 6 December that it had conducted a series of ground- and ship-based test firings of an improved version of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF)’s Type 12 surface-to-ship guided missile.
The MoD said in its statement that it had completed five test firings between 4 October and 1 November 2024, with three of these involving ground-based mobile launchers at the Aeronautical Equipment Research Institute on Niijima Island and the remaining two centring on ship-launched versions of the missile.
“In order to quickly build a stand-off defense capability that can prevent and eliminate invading forces against our country at an early stage and at a long distance,” said the MoD’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA). “We will continue to work on the early construction of stand-off defence capabilities.”
Developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), the Type 12 SSM was originally developed from the country’s Type 88 anti-ship missile and fielded by the JGSDF coastal battalions from around 2014. The system is based on the Mitsubishi 8×8 transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) vehicle with a six-cell launcher.
Each Type 12 missile has an overall length of 5 m and weighs 700 kg. It is armed with a 225 kg high-explosive warhead and uses an inertial navigation system (INS) and active radar seeker.
The MoD earlier revealed fresh insights into the Type 12 SSM upgrade in its latest annual defence white paper released on 12 July.
An image of a missile prototype, purportedly used for ground-based static testing, was included in the document. The missile appears similar in overall shape and form with the low-observable US-made AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and the Franco-British Storm Shadow/SCALP EG, albeit with a more prominent air intake on the underside of the fuselage in its current form.
The current Type 12 SSM possesses a range of around 200 km. It is understood that the MoD hopes to achieve a range of around 900-1000 km for the upgraded missile, with the eventual aim of extending the range to around 1200 km.
The MoD earlier announced in December 2023 that the JGSDF will deploy the upgraded Type 12 SSM from fiscal year 2025, a year earlier than originally planned.
by Jr Ng
