Japan is adapting its layered air- and missile-defense architecture to address an increasingly complex threat environment, including plans to protect remote areas and bolster its ability to counter hypersonic glide vehicles. At the March 2026 summit, United States President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae agreed to strengthen missile-defense cooperation, aiming to rapidly increase SM-3 Block IIA missile production in Japan fourfold.
This bolsters Tokyo’s broader effort to enhance its layered air- and missile-defense posture against a demanding regional threat landscape. Japan has strengthened its Ryukyu Islands defense due to China’s military-capability advances, deploying Mitsubishi Electric Corporation Type-03 surface-to-air systems, with a further deployment planned for Yonaguni Island in FY2030. The Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) are also introducing the Upgraded Type-03 SAM with ballistic-missile-defense (BMD) capability, supplementing Patriot systems. Eight Aegis-equipped destroyers provide mid-course BMD, soon to be augmented by two new Aegis System-Equipped Vessels (ASEVs) commissioning in FY27 and FY28, which will relieve existing destroyers for air defense and surface warfare. The Kongo-class destroyer JS Chokai will also field Raytheon Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles for a deep-precision-strike role.
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