Japan's military launches first communications satellite amid growing threats from China and North Korea

The Kirameki-2 satellite rocket that lifted off from Tanegashima in south Japan
First of three satellites that will replace three civilian ones currently used
New satellites will allow military units to communicate on high-speed network

Published: 08:26 EST, 24 January 2017 | Updated: 15:59 EST, 24 January 2017

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Japan has launched its first military communications satellite in a bid to fend off the growing threat from China and North Korea.

The Kirameki-2 (kee-RAH-meh-kee 2) satellite was on an H-2A rocket that lifted off from the Tanegashima (tah-neh-GAH-shee-mah) Space Center in southern Japan.

The satellite separated from the rocket and entered a designated orbit, the Defense Ministry said.

Japan¿s H-2A rocket lifts off carrying Defense Ministry's first communications satellite Kirameki-2 from the Tanegashima Space Center in Minamitane on Tanegashima Island, southern Japan, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. (Yu Nakajima/Kyodo News via AP)

WHAT WILL IT DO?

The new satellites will allow military units to communicate on a high-speed and high-capacity network.

The satellites is one of three planned so-called X-band satellites, that will quadruple broadband capacity.

It is the first of three satellites that will replace three civilian ones currently used by Japan's military.

The new satellites will allow military units to communicate on a high-speed and high-capacity network.

The new satellites are also aimed at stepping up Japan's emergency response capability in case of natural disaster, China's maritime activity from southern Japanese waters to the South China Sea, as well as missile threats from North Korea.

The satellites are also planned for use for Japanese troops operating overseas as part of international peacekeeping operations, including those in South Sudan and off the Somali coast, Kyodo News reported.

The Kirameki-1 was supposed to be launched in July 2016, but was damaged during transport to a launch pad in French Guiana.

It is undergoing repair and now is scheduled for launch in 2018.

The satellites is one of three planned so-called X-band satellites, that will quadruple broadband capacity, unify a fractured and overburdened communications network and allow communications across more territory.

Japan and China are locked in a territorial dispute in the East China Sea over a group of uninhabited islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

The two countries are also at odds over the exploitation of gas fields that straddle exclusive economic zones claimed by both.

Japan's H-2A rocket carrying Defense Ministry's first communications satellite Kirameki-2 goes up goes up after its launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in Minamitane on Tanegashima Island, southern Japan, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017.

Japan, the main U.S. ally in Asia, is concerned that a recent increase in Chinese military activity in the area is a sign it is looking to extend its military influence from the neighboring South China Sea as a challenge to U.S. maritime dominance.

In the nine months from April to December, Japan scrambled fighter jets to counter Chinese aircraft approaching Japanese airspace 644 times, almost double the 373 times a year earlier, Japan's Ministry of Defence announced on Friday.

In December, China's first aircraft carrier, the Soviet-built Liaoning, accompanied by several warships, sailed through the passage between the Japanese Southwestern islands of Mikado and Okinawa and into the Pacific for what China described as routine exercises.