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By Shane Croucher and John Feng
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The U.S. Army has revealed its mid-range Typhon missile system at one of its bases in Japan for the first time as the two allies stepped up their deterrence against China's growing assertiveness in the region.
China has asserted its sovereignty in nearby disputed waters, including Japan's Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, as well as most of the South China Sea, leading to regular clashes with American allies, such as the Philippines.
The U.S. is seeking to reassure regional allies by increasing its presence and strengthening its military posture in the region, and shifting more attention to countering China, its great power rival. It also hopes to deter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
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Japan has been rapidly accelerating its military buildup, especially the so-called strike-back capability with mid- to long-range missiles as a counter to missile and nuclear threats from China, as well as North Korea and Russia.
Typhon Can Fire Missiles to Hit Chinese Coast
The land-based Typhon weapon, capable of firing the Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) and the Tomahawk cruise missiles that can hit targets on China's eastern coasts, was delivered last month to the U.S. Marine Corps Base in Iwakuni, in southwestern Japan.
Its exhibition in Japan follows its deployment in the Philippines last year, triggering criticisms from China and Russia.
"Employing multiple systems and different types of munitions, it is able to create dilemmas for the enemy," Colonel Wade Germann, commander of the U.S. Army's 3d Multi-Domain Task Force, said in a televised news conference from Iwakuni.
"The speed with which it can be deployed enables us to forward position it when required expeditiously," Germann added, according to Reuters.
Typhon was featured during the annual bilateral exercise Resolute Dragon, which started last week, with more than 19,000 U.S. and Japanese troops participating in the exercise that focuses on maritime defense and littoral protection and held across Japan, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
The U.S. Army is not expected to fire Typhon or other advanced missile systems during the Resolute Dragon exercise, and its deployment in Iwakuni is only for the exercise ending on September 25, Japanese public television NHK reported.
But its unveiling sends a clear signal to China about U.S. capabilities in the region, as Beijing displays its own in various wargames, parades, and maritime patrols.
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Typhon to Philippines Sparks China Anger
The Pentagon first triggered Beijing's ire in April 2024, at the tail end of the Biden administration, when it publicly announced the "historic" first deployment of a Typhon missile launcher to the Philippines for an annual military exercise.
The system put military bases in southern China in range of U.S. Tomahawk missiles.
Although it was never fired, the U.S. Army launcher remained in the northern Philippines at Manila's request amid geopolitical tensions over disputed territory in the South China Sea.
The Trump administration doubled down on the Typhon and another weapons system used by the U.S. Marine Corps, with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth deploying the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, or NMESIS, anti-ship launcher to the Philippines in the spring.
In July, the Army sent a Typhon launcher to Australia and fired an SM-6 missile at a maritime target in what was the system's first live use outside of the continental United States.
Later the same month, the NMESIS system and its ship-killing Naval Strike Missile were deployed to Okinawa in Japan's southwestern islands.
In late August, the Army told Newsweek that the weapon would be joined by a Typhon system in time for the U.S.-Japan bilateral war game Resolute Dragon 25, scheduled for September 11-25 across Japanese territory.
US, Japan Boost Coast Guard Fleets
The U.S. and Japan recently boosted their maritime law enforcement fleets as China continued expanding its naval and coast guard presence in the Pacific.
On September 9, the U.S. Coast Guard exercised a $507 million contract option with Bollinger Shipyards in Louisiana to fund initial construction of 10 Sentinel-class fast response cutters as part of its fleet modernization and mission expansion efforts.
The 395-ton Sentinel-class vessels are "critical assets" to control, secure and defend U.S. borders and maritime approaches. The U.S. Coast Guard commissioned three vessels in Guam—the ships' home port and America's westernmost territory—in 2021.
Meanwhile, Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries launched a 3,500-ton coast guard ship, named after the city of Hiroshima, on Thursday in Tamano City. It is a Miyako-class "Patrol vessel Large" (PL), equipped with a flight deck to support helicopter operations.
The new vessel, ordered in fiscal year 2022, is being outfitted with hull, machinery, electrical and weapon systems. Delivery is scheduled for fiscal year 2026—from April 1, 2026, to March 31, 2027—Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said in a press release.
Update, 9/15/25, 11:26 a.m. ET: This article was updated with more information.
Update, 9/15/25, 11:04 a.m. ET: This article was updated with more information.
This article uses reporting by The Associated Press.
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