Japan successfully test-fired a missile from its territory for the first time as the country boosts its defense capabilities to counter rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific.
The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) fired a Type-88 surface-to-ship missile toward Pacific coastal waters from a test range on the northernmost island of Hokkaido in late June 2025, according to The Japan Times newspaper. In the past, Japan tested its missiles in Australia and the United States because of space limitations and safety concerns, according to The Associated Press (AP). A JGSDF artillery brigade used a training missile to target an uncrewed boat about 40 kilometers off Hokkaido’s southern coast, the AP said.
“Domestic live-fire exercises like this one … are extremely important for us to maintain and improve the capability to defend islands and other areas, given the current severe security environment,” said Japanese government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi, according to The Japan Times.
Hayashi said the test was not conducted with a specific nation in mind, according to the newspaper. However, Japan has called China, which is rapidly building up its military capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region, its top security challenge. The Chinese have executed military exercises with Russia near Japanese islands and harassed Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) aircraft. In July 2025, Tokyo demanded that Beijing stop flying warplanes close to Japanese intelligence-gathering aircraft, which it said was happening repeatedly and could cause a collision. Japan’s Defense Ministry said a Chinese JH-7 fighter-bomber came as close as 30 meters to an electronic-intelligence YS-11EB aircraft of the JASDF that was flying outside Japanese airspace over the East China Sea, according to the AP.
Japan has said it will steadily increase its defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product and is strengthening defense ties with the U.S., according to The Japan Times. In December 2024, the government approved a record $55 billion defense budget for fiscal year 2025.
“Japan faces national security circumstances which are the most serious and complicated since the end of World War II. It is an urgent task to fundamentally strengthen defense capabilities,” said Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, according to a December 2024 story in The Japan News.
Those capabilities will include warships focused on ballistic missile defense. Japan took delivery in July 2025 of the first Lockheed Martin SPY-7(V)1 radar antennas that will be equipped on its future Aegis System Equipped Vessel guided-missile destroyers, according to the website Breaking Defense. Japan will acquire at least two of the ships, with plans calling for their commissioning in fiscal years 2027 and 2028, according to Breaking Defense.