In November 2015, Japan's Ministry of Defense announced it would conduct a live-fire experiment of the XASM-3 in 2016, targeting the decommissioned ship JDS Shirane.

[1] In February 2017, an F-2 carried out a jettison test of the missile as a precursor to a live firing.

[citation needed] In March 2019, it was reported that the ASM-3 would have its range extended to 400 km (220 nmi; 250 mi) or more.

[6][7][8] In December 2019, the Japanese Defense Ministry secured ¥10.3 billion to upgrade the missile in its 2020 budget.

[9] In December 2020, Japan MoD announced the ASM-3A, a variant of the ASM-3 with extended range,[10] and an intention to mass-produce it with the 2021 defense budget.