US Marines have conducted a test-firing of a dozen rockets from a mobile launcher at a range nestled in the foothills of Japan's iconic Mount Fuji.
The exercise aimed to maintain proficiency with a weapon system that is increasingly vital to the American military's arsenal.
The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) is a truck-mounted launcher designed for rapid deployment. Its "shoot and scoot" tactics allow it to quickly emerge from concealment, fire its rockets, and then relocate swiftly to evade counter-battery fire.
This capability is becoming ever more crucial given the proliferation of drones over battlefields, which render static positions significantly more vulnerable.
The system has seen action with US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. More recently, US Central Command stated it was employed in an opening attack on Iran, where it launched a new precision-guided rocket capable of striking targets hundreds of miles away.
This capability holds particular significance in the Pacific, where the US seeks to deter a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan. China claims the island as its own and has not ruled out taking it by force.
HIMARS systems, equipped with the latest missiles, could readily reach targets in the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and mainland China if deployed on Japanese or other nearby islands.
However, the HIMARS is generally equipped with shorter-range rockets, and the recent exercise at the US military's Camp Fuji, approximately a two-hour drive from Tokyo, involved only dummy projectiles.
This was only the second time HIMARS had been tested at Camp Fuji, conducted in close coordination with Japanese military forces. A public road running between the firing and landing zones was closed as a precautionary measure during the exercise.
