Japan on Wednesday temporarily deployed a unit of surface-to-ship missiles for the first time on the Miyako Island in Okinawa prefecture as part of an ongoing military drill by the country's Self-Defense Forces (SDF).
More than 30,000 SDF personnel are taking part in the massive drill that began last week and is to last until November 18, Japanese media reported.
A chartered high-speed ferry carrying some 20 vehicles with missile launchers arrived at Hirara port on Miyako from Hokkaido, about 2,500 kilometers away.
Personnel manning the unit are to hold mock drills at a SDF destroyer off the coast. Another unit of the missiles is to arrive at the southern part of Okinawa from Aomori prefecture for the drill. The range of the missiles is to cover the waters between Miyako and Okinawa's main island often used by Chinese naval ships to go to the Pacific.
However, the Defense Ministry said the exercises were not targeting ships from any specific country. Another drill for defending Japan's remote islands is to be held in waters east of Okinawa's main island, the report said.
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