Japan is known for her limited landmass, forcing the JSDF to struggle from providing their missile units with precious opportunity to conduct live-firing exercises in order to maintain their readiness.
For the JGSDF’s SSM units and Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (SAM) units, they rarely have the chance to conduct live firing training as the missile’s effective range exceeds the current domestic missile ranges’ boundaries. Due to the range constraints, they must travel to foreign soils and utilize the foreign missile ranges, with recent examples such as the Beecroft Weapons Range off the Australian East Coast and the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii, etc; however, not all units have the chance to participate such training which in turn brings a negative impact towards the overall readiness of their SSM and SAM units.
To make matters worse, Japan is introducing all kinds of domestic and foreign Long Range Stand-Off Missiles as part of a recent force buildup, most notably the improved Type 12 SSM with 745 miles (1,200km) of range which is unprecedented for the JSDF. This forced the Japanese Ministry of Defense to rethink how they could create more live firing training (and testing) in the long term.
About Minamitorishima
Located 1,140 miles (1,848km) southwest of Tokyo is the island of Minanamitorishima. Although the island itself does not have any permanent residents, it is administratively registered under the Tokyo prefecture. The JMSDF has an air base on this island with a small detachment consisting of 10 men to staff the small outpost, supported by around 15 personnel from the Japan Meteorological Agency and Regional Bureau.
The air base with a 4,498 ft (1,371m) runway is the only way in and out of this coral atoll far from any civilization. Every week, a C-130R transport from JMSDF will bring the fresh personnel and supplies to the island, while the JASDF’s C-130H will come in monthly and shuttle the other 15 civilian staff in and out of the island.
Because of its remoteness and away from civilian air/maritime traffic, Minamitorishima was selected by the MoD to be a new missile range dedicated for all kinds of Long Range Stand-Off Missiles in the future, especially the domestic ones as this means Japan no longer have to send the prototype, testing equipment and personnel to overseas ranges to conduct tests, enabling a more frequent testing schedule. According to the Japanese Media, the first live firing conducted in this range should occur two years from now.
Due to the fact that the runway on the island is relatively short for anything larger than a C-130, the accessibility of the island is greatly limited. Most of the equipment and supplies going to the island has to be able to fit inside a C-130 in the first place to get there. In order to solve this problem, a plan to construct a 160m pier began in 2010 and was completed in 2016. The addition of the pier opens up a new gateway to the island, especially for the Improved Type 12 SSM and other Japanese domestic in-development Stand Off-Missiles.
