Authors: Noah Reed, Joe O’Connor
Today, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi visited Yonaguni, the westernmost Japanese island in the Senkakus. After inspecting a JGSDF garrison, Koizumi announced that the JSDF will deploy a Type 03 Chū-SAM missile battery on the island, to “reduce the likelihood of an armed attack against our country.” The Type 03 has an effective range of approximately 50 km, while Yonaguni itself is approximately 105 km from Taiwan.
Above is our visualization of the Type 03’s future deployment on Yonaguni.