Japan is moving ahead with plans to build an electronic warfare unit as a check against Chinese maneuvers in disputed areas of the East China Sea.
The unit, designed to impede enemy assaults through the use of the electromagnetic or EM spectrum, is to be set up next year in Camp Kengun, Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyushu, in southern Japan, the Sankei Shimbun reported Tuesday.
Camp Kengun is under the direction of Japan’s Western Army, one of five active armies of Tokyo’s ground self-defense force.
Japan has heightened surveillance of areas near the disputed Senkaku Islands, where Chinese ships have been seen in waters Japan has claimed as its own.
By late 2020, Camp Kengun is to include an electronic warfare or EW unit with about 80 troops. EW can be applied from air, sea or land, and can target people, communication, radar or other assets.
Japan retains an electronic warfare unit in Hokkaido, near Russian territory. The future EW unit in Kumamoto Prefecture could be integrated under a single command with the existing unit, according to the Sankei.