Japan Deploys Aegis Ashore, Becoming a Link in the US Global Missile Defense

 

On July 30, Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera announced a plan to deploy the Aegis Ashore missile-defense system by 2023. The military training grounds in the Akita and Yamaguchi prefectures are prospective sites.  This decision is a “big-ticket purchase” that could also help Tokyo smooth trade friction with Washington, amidst the Trump administration’s threats to hit Japan’s auto imports with new tariffs.  Reuters cited Japanese media reports that have put the cost of the two sites, which will include the Aegis air-defense system, missile launchers, and interceptors, at around $6 billion. Japan has chosen the Lockheed Martin Corp’s SSR radar, with a far greater range than the Aegis radars currently operated by the US Navy. Officially, the move is being justified by pointing to the threat from North Korea.

China’s missile swarms vs. America’s lasers, drones and railguns: Who wins?

Artist’s conception of a PLA anti-ship ballistic missile attack on three US Navy carriers

 

This much is true — no country can possibly hope to challenge the United States with military means on a global scale and win. But key to America’s global strength are huge air and naval bases which are vulnerable to being overwhelmed and destroyed by swarms of precision-guided weapons in a limited, regional war.

The Navy also cannot expect its ships to survive if they come under attack by sufficiently large numbers of cruise missiles and ballistic missiles of the kind now fielded by China. While better protected from missiles than bases, the current breadth of U.S. technology and doctrine cannot compensate for this weakness.

US and Japan Successfully Test Ballistic Missile Killer

The new next-generation Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) is scheduled to be deployed at sea and ashore by 2018.

On June 6, the United States and Japan successfully conducted a live-fire test of a jointly developed new ballistic missile interceptor at a U.S. Navy sea range.

Raytheon Co’s next-generation Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA, has been under joint development by the U.S. defense firm Raytheon and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the country’s largest defense contractor.  According to IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly,Raytheon was contracted for hardware, system development, and all-up-round integration, whereas Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries focused on the missile’s second and third stage rocket motors, steering control, and the missile nosecone.

Two-Faced — Russia building up missile defenses while seeking to limit U.S. defenses

Another Gertz article with the same subject as a previous post:

Russia is engaged in a major buildup of both nuclear and conventional missile defense systems at the same time Moscow is seeking legal limits on U.S. missile defenses, according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military is developing and deploying an array of new and modernized anti-missile interceptors that are part of a strategic doctrine that calls for defending against what Moscow believes to be an increasing threat posed by offensive ballistic missiles, said U.S. officials with access to intelligence reports.

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Additionally, the Russians are upgrading the SH-08 nuclear-tipped anti-missile interceptors that have been deployed around Moscow for more than two decades.

Aegis destroyers leave to prepare for “rocket”

Japanese destroyers equipped with high-performance radar are being deployed in readiness for the launch of a North Korean rocket.

Three Aegis destroyers of the Maritime Self-Defense Force left Sasebo port, western Japan, for waters near Okinawa and other locations on Thursday morning.