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typhon land-based intermediate-range missile system

the us land-based intermediate-range missile system "typhon" will be deployed in japan. previously, the russian-us intermediate-range missile treaty prohibited the deployment of such weapons. after the treaty was torn up, the united states began to deploy corresponding systems in several countries in europe and the asia-pacific region. the deployment of "typhon" in japan will allow the united states to threaten the territories of china, russia and north korea.

the japan times reported on the americans' plan to deploy the typhoon in japan, citing a statement by u.s. army secretary christina wormuth. she said that during a recent visit to japan, she discussed with japanese defense minister kihara minoru the prospect of having the new u.s. multi-domain task force participate in exercises on japanese territory. the japan times quoted wormuth as saying: "we are very interested in seeing... the multi-domain task force... operate from japan. we expressed this to the japan self-defense forces. the deployment will proceed at the pace of the japanese government."

the multi-domain task force also includes the u.s. land-based intermediate-range missile system "typhon". their presence in japan will be the second time the united states has deployed systems previously prohibited by the inf treaty in asia. the first time was in the philippines this spring, when "typhon" participated in joint u.s.-philippine exercises. however, these systems were not subsequently shipped back to the united states, but remained on the philippine island of luzon. the possibility that these systems will then be directly transferred to japan cannot be ruled out.

the typhon system is the first land-based medium-range weapon developed by the united states after it tore up the intermediate-range missile treaty. its launch device is actually a land-based version of the mk41 ship-borne vertical launch system. the pentagon signed a contract with lockheed martin to produce the typhon system in november 2020.

the typhon system is capable of launching tomahawk cruise missiles (with a range of about 1,800 kilometers) and standard missile-6 multi-purpose missiles (the current version has a range of about 500 kilometers, but it is expected to have a longer range in the future).

in july this year, it was reported that the united states will deploy medium- and short-range land-based missiles (standard-6, tomahawk and dark hawk) in germany from 2026. in addition, the united states has twice delivered the mk70 missile system (a system similar to the typhon developed for the navy) to the danish island of bornholm.

japanese authorities have so far declined to comment on wormuth's statement that the two sides have reached an agreement on the deployment of the tifun system.

alexander chekov, a lecturer at the department of international relations and foreign policy at the moscow state institute of international relations, told kommersant that for the united states, "it is very attractive to deploy medium-range missiles in japan, because from there such weapons can be used against three countries at the same time." he said: "this refers to china, russia and north korea. at present, we do not know the range of the missiles that will eventually be deployed there, but even the tomahawk, launched from japanese territory, can cover the entire territory of north korea, part of the russian far east, and the northeastern and eastern territories of china. if the range of the deployed missiles is longer than this, the affected area will be expanded."

the expert believes that the americans' actions show that they intend to create a multi-purpose medium-range missile system that can be used to strike multiple opponents at the same time.

"obviously, the impact of the deployment of such missiles by the united states is quite significant, even if only from the point of view of the locations of deployment," chekov commented. "we have seen exercises in denmark and the philippines, and the deployment of systems in germany has already been announced. japan is next. so from a geographical point of view, this is a multi-faceted factor."

this article was published by the russian newspaper kommersant on september 10, with the original title "america's 'typhon' crossing asia" and the author is yelena chernenko.