The Self-Defense Forces and the US military are holding a large live-fire exercise across Japan this month with more than 50,000 participants. A long-range missile that the defense ministry says would also be used as a "counterstrike capability" — the ability to hit an enemy base — was used in a joint live-fire drill for the first time, and was shown to the public on the 25th.
The missile was moved out of a Ground Self-Defense Force camp in Kumamoto City ahead of the exercise. The deployment marks a step away from Japan's long-standing defensive-only posture, under which the SDF has not fielded weapons intended to strike targets beyond its own territory.
The ministry has described the counterstrike capability as a response to missile threats, and the government has been building it out in recent defense budgets. How the missile performs in the exercise is likely to draw attention from neighboring countries.
The source report is truncated after the opening passage and does not give the missile's name, its range, the location of the drill shown on the 25th, or further detail on the exercise.