Editorial: Japan Could Work with NATO on Deadly Next-Generation Missile

Evolved Sea Sparrow missile (Image: Wiki Commons)

By Ankit Panda

Japan’s participation in a NATO missile development consortium could lead to multi-national projects in Asia.

Ever since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s return to the top in Tokyo in December 2012, Japan has steadily been increasing its defense cooperation with a range of partners, both in Asia and elsewhere. Abe has spearheaded defense commerce, research and development, and production cooperation with a range of states, including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, and India. To enable this profusion of collaborative activity, Abe’s government lifted Japan’s decades-long self-imposed arms export ban (based on the “three principles” of not exporting weapons to communist states, states involved in conflict, or states subject to United Nations embargoes). The next step for Tokyo as it looks to become a “normal” state, as far as international defense commerce is concerned, may be participation in a NATO missile building consortium. According to Reuters, Tokyo is considering collaborating with NATO in what could be its first multinational defense project.

Japan is considering participating in the 12-country NATO consortium which manages the development of the Sea Sparrow family of ship-borne missiles. The consortium includes Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the United States. Australia is currently the only non-NATO member of the consortium, and elected in 2014 to continue its participation in the group. With a unit cost of $165,000, the Sea Sparrow, manufactured by U.S. firms Raytheon and General Dynamics, is designed to counter and destroy anti-ship sea-skimming missiles and attack aircraft. The NATO consortium will work toward a next-generation upgrade for the Sea Sparrow in the coming years. Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force operates the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow and RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow (ESSM) missiles, which are assembled in Japan by Mitsubishi under a coproduction agreement with NATO and the United States.

Read the full story at The Diplomat