Tokyo has formally approved the purchase and deployment of Aegis Ashore systems to “fundamentally improve” Japan’s anti-missile capabilities against potential “surprise attacks,” local media reported after the Cabinet meeting.
The Japanese government plans to purchase two Lockheed Martin missile defense systems at the cost of at least 100 billion yen ($888 million) a unit, Defense Ministry officials noted, expressing hope that Aegis Ashore would become operational by 2023. The missile defense systems will be equipped with SM-3 Block 2A interceptors and will be administered by the Ground Self-Defense Force. However, according to Reuters sources, the infrastructure and launchers alone, without the missiles themselves, would cost Tokyo at least $2 billion.
“We need to fundamentally improve our ballistic missile defense abilities to protect our country at all times and in a sustainable manner,” the government said in a document endorsed by the Cabinet on Tuesday, agreeing that North Korea poses a “new level of threat” to Japan, Kyodo News reported.
Japan’s Defense Ministry is seeking a record-high 5.26 trillion yen ($48 billion) budget for the fiscal year beginning next April to add missile interceptors alongside other military equipment. Initially, the government was also considering the purchase of the US-built THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system before deciding on Aegis Ashore.
“We believe this new system will significantly boost our abilities to deal with surprise attacks and saturation attacks,” a ministry official told Kyodo.
