How US Typhon’s deployment in Japan could prompt China to boost counterstrike systems
The system, deployed during a joint drill this week, can fire missiles that could hit the Chinese east coast when launched from the US ally
On Monday, the US military showcased the weapons system at a marine base in Iwakuni in the southwest of Honshu ahead of the annual two-week Resolute Dragon field training exercise.
The joint drills involve around 20,000 Japanese and US troops along with other warships and missile batteries.
Colonel Wade Germann, commander of the task force that operates the Typhon, said the missile system would be removed from Japan after the exercise, but declined to say where it would be stationed next or whether it would return to the country.
That was the first time such a weapons system had been deployed in the Asia-Pacific region since the 1987 US-Soviet Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty prohibited the development and possession of nuclear and conventional land-based missiles with a range between 500km (310 miles) and 5,500km.