Japan will build four major ammunition depots at Self-Defense Forces facilities in Oita and Aomori prefectures, with them likely to be used as storage sites for long-range missiles with enemy base strike capabilities, government sources said Wednesday.
Construction work at the two sites will begin in fiscal 2023, which starts from April, and the government will also launch a survey in the fiscal year in preparation to build six more similarly large depots at multiple SDF facilities in the country, the sources said.
The Ground Self-Defense Force's Vice-Camp Oita in Oita Prefecture and the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Ominato District Headquarters in the city of Mutsu in Aomori Prefecture will get two large depots each, the sources said.
The Defense Ministry has earmarked a total of around ¥5.8 billion ($43 million) in the draft fiscal 2023 budget as related costs.
The bolstering of ammunition depots comes after the government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida decided in December to acquire enemy base strike capabilities as a deterrent against attacks, in a major shift in its security policy amid mounting regional military threats.
To that end, the government plans to equip the SDF with U.S.-developed Tomahawk cruise missiles and an improved version of Type-12 surface-to-ship guided missiles in fiscal 2026.
The government will also develop an enhanced high-speed glide weapon to defend the nation's southwestern remote islands.
Long-range cruise missiles require storage facilities larger than the SDF's current ammunition depots.