#US to deploy medium-range missile system in Asia-Pacific

The U.S. Army plans to deploy a new medium-range missile launcher in the Asia-Pacific region by the end of this year that could act as a deterrent against #China, it has been learned.

“I’m not going to discuss what system and I’m not going to say where and when,” Gen. Charles Flynn, U.S. Army Pacific commanding general, told The Asahi Shimbun and other media organizations at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on April 3. “I’m just saying that there will be a long-range precision fire capability that will come to the region.”

If the U.S. Army deploys a surface-launched medium-range missile, it would be the first since Washington and Moscow concluded the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987.

While Flynn did not disclose the name of the missile launching system, it is believed to be the ground-based Typhon system being developed by the U.S. Army.

Typhon is capable of launching the Tomahawk cruise missile with a range of more than 1,600 kilometers and the new SM-6 interceptor missile.

While Japan is among prospective candidate sites, the system will likely be based in Guam and temporarily transferred to Japan for training purposes, a U.S. government source said.

The INF Treaty prohibited the United States and Russia from possessing surface-launched medium-range ballistic and cruise missiles with a range between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.

After the treaty expired in 2019, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps have been developing new medium-range missiles on a full-scale basis.

A senior Defense Ministry official said a new U.S. missile launching system based in the Asia-Pacific region would close the gap in missile capabilities with China and enhance deterrence.

But the move could trigger an arms race over missile development and deployment.

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