Japan is developing a new supersonic glide bomb to strengthen the defences of remote islands. The government will spend close to $122 million in the coming fiscal year and plans to deploy a fully functional weapon by 2025. The missiles will protect islands such as Okinawa and the Senkakus. If outlying islands come under attack or are occupied by the enemy, the system would launch a missile to reach an altitude of more than 20km before the glide bomb separates and then falls at an angle at supersonic speed towards the target on the ground. The missile’s high velocity renders it immune to interception by enemy airdefence weapons.