Japan to Speed Up Missile Defense Upgrades

JAPAN – Three government sources said that Japan may fast track about $1 billion of planned expenditure to improve its ballistic missile defenses. This decision is in the heels of missile tests indicating North Korea is close to deploying a more potent medium-range missile.

The disbursements include money to evaluate a new missile defense layer. This will either be Lockheed Martin’s Aegis Ashore or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. Aegis Ashore is a land-based variety of the ballistic missile defense system utilized by vessels in the Sea of Japan.

The sources familiar with the proposal said it covers funds to upgrade the range and accuracy of PAC-3 Patriot batteries. The sources requested no to be named since they are not allowed to speak with the media.

However, the same sources noted that the rollout of Aegis Ashore or THAAD could still take years. Further, the companies involved in production of Patriot missile batteries, such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Raytheon, are unlikely to supply upgrades much quicker. Most probably, due to limited capacity to speed up already tight production schedules.

The Sankei newspaper reported earlier that up to 300 billion yen ($2.9 billion) of defense spending will be involved in a third auxiliary budget. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration has yet to acknowledge whether it will request legislators to endorse additional expenses before discussions begin on next year’s budget.

Pyongyang’s evident technological advancement on missiles has been sooner than expected. A senior Japanese military commander said earlier this month that this exposes Japan to a heightened threat.

North Korea fired a missile over Japan for the first time in 1998. Since then, Pyongyang and Tokyo have been wedged in an arms race.

Musudan ballistic missile renders SM-3 obsolete

North Korea has test-fired more than 21 ballistic missiles and managed two nuclear tests so far this year. On June 22, a medium-range Musudan missile achieved a height of 1,000 km (620 miles) on a lobbed arc. At this height, the missiles are beyond the range of SM-3 missiles deployed on Aegis destroyers at the Sea of Japan. The SM-3 missiles are designed to hit warheads at the edge of space.

That puts older PAC-3 Patriot missiles guarding major cities like Tokyo as a last line of defense. Their enhancement program will not provide the initial upgraded batteries until 2020, in time for the Tokyo Olympics.

Pyongyang’s Rodong missile has warheads that travel at speeds of up to 3 km (2 miles) per second. Meanwhile, payloads on rockets like the Musudan plummet from space at least twice as fast.

Japan plans to obtain a more formidable version of the SM-3 it is jointly developing with the United States. However, it is not known when the first will be deployed.

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