Japan unveils HVGP launcher prototype

A prototype of Japan's HVGP has been tested on several occasions in California. (Japan MoD)

Japan has unveiled a prototype of a ground-based launcher vehicle for its Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectile (HVGP).

Footage posted by the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) on its official social media channel shows the HVGP missile mounted on an 8×8 wheeled transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) vehicle featuring two cylindrical canisters. The footage was taken at the JGSDF's ‘Fuji Firepower' Exercise 2025 held in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, in early June.

A spokesperson from Japan's Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) told Janes on 16 June that the TEL vehicle is still under a research and development (R&D) phase.

The spokesperson said, “The deployment of the HVGP is currently scheduled for fiscal year (FY) 2026, but specific details are still under consideration.” The JGSDF intends to deploy the HVGP as a strike capability to defend Japan's remote islands such as the Ryukyu Islands chain.

According to the ATLA spokesperson, the HVGP system will consist of its missile, a TEL vehicle, and a command unit. ATLA aims to complete the R&D of the HVGP programme, which began in 2018, by FY 2025.

ATLA intends to achieve rapid target engagement, reduced radar signature, and high-speed gliding to evade interception through its HVGP programme, the spokesperson added.

According to the spokesperson, the HVGP has undergone several test launches, and its development has made “good progress”, with “successful test launches”. The HVGP missile “glides at high speed [and] at altitudes too high for [an adversary] to intercept, and [then] attacks landing troops on the ground”, the spokesperson said.