News Story: Japan evaluating sites for Aegis Ashore missile defense system

CGI of an Aegis Ashore Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) System

By: Mike Yeo

MELBOURNE, Australia ― Japan is evaluating locations to base the Aegis Ashore land-based ballistic missile defense system of which it has expressed interest in acquiring to better defend against North Korean ballistic missiles.

According to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, which quoted Japanese Defense Ministry sources, Japan is looking at placing the Aegis Ashore on two sites along the country’s western coast to give complete coverage against North Korean ballistic missiles.

The newspaper reported that the sites under consideration for the northern system are either the Kamo sub-base in Oga, Akita prefecture, and the Sado sub-base in Sado, Niigata prefecture; for the system covering the southern part of Japan, either the Unishima sub-base in Tsushima or the Fukuejima sub-base in Goto, both in Nagasaki prefecture.

These sites are all part of Japan’s current early-warning and ballistic missile-defense radar network operated by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, operating a mixture of J/FPS-3, J/FPS-5 and other older radars.

The Asahi Shimbun reported that Japan plans to have its Aegis Ashore systems operational by 2023, although this could be pushed forward if the regional security changes. The newspaper quoted Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera as saying that “we want to introduce the system at the earliest possible schedule”.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: Japan deploys PAC-3 missile interceptor near North Korea flight path

A Japanese Patriot PAC-3 Missile System

By: Mari Yamaguchi

TOKYO (AP) — Japan on Tuesday moved a mobile missile-defense system on the northern island of Hokkaido to a base near recent North Korean missile flyover routes.

Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptor unit was deployed at the Hakodate base on southern Hokkaido “as a precaution” as part of government preparations for a possible emergency.

The relocation came after a North Korean missile was test-fired last week and flew over southern Hokkaido and landed in the Pacific off the island’s east coast — the second flyover in less than a month.

The PAC-3 was brought from another base in Yakumo town on Hokkaido, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Hakodate. The system has a range of about 20 kilometers.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: To shoot down or not? NKorea launch highlights intercept issues

CGI of an Aegis Ashore system (Click Image to Enlarge)

By Thomas Watkins with Shingo Ito in Tokyo

North Korea's latest missile launch over Japan set sirens blaring and triggered alerts telling people to seek shelter -- yet neither Tokyo nor Washington tried to shoot the rocket down.

The test follows one in August that saw another rocket soar over Hokkaido. In that case too, much-vaunted Japanese and US missile-intercept capabilities were not used.

Now some in the United States are wondering why all this sophisticated weaponry isn't being used, especially as North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un accelerates toward his goal of building a nuclear missile capable of striking the United States.

"The next time the North Koreans launch a rocket, especially one that will traverse over our ally Japan, I would hope that we shoot it down as a message to the North Koreans and to other people, like in Japan, who are counting on us," Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher told lawmakers this week.

"Unless we demonstrate we're willing to use force, there's no reason for them to believe we will."

The US Pacific Command confirmed Friday's rocket was an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), and Seoul's defense ministry said it probably traveled around 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles), hurtling to a maximum altitude of 770 kilometers.

The missile, which fell in the Pacific Ocean, represented North Korea's furthest-ever flight.

Evans Revere and Jonathan Pollack of the Brookings Institution wrote in a paper that Washington should declare that any future North Korean missiles toward or over US or allied territory would be deemed a direct threat that would "be addressed with the full range of US and allied defensive capabilities."

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: Japan Defense Ministry seeks missile interceptors in budget

By: Mari Yamaguchi

TOKYO — Japan’s Defense Ministry is seeking a record-high budget to add missile interceptors and other equipment to defend the country from more North Korean weapons launches.

The 5.26 trillion yen (U.S. $47.78 billion) request for the fiscal year beginning next April is a 2.5 percent increase from the current year. A big chunk of the request announced Thursday will cover purchases of upgraded missile interceptors with expanded range, altitude and accuracy.

They include the ship-to-air SM-3 Block IIA jointly developed by the U.S. and Japan and the surface-to-air PAC-3 MSE.

The request comes amid growing fear about North Korea’s missile threat and rising tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. On Tuesday, Pyongyang fired a missile that flew over Japan and landed in the northern Pacific Ocean. It flight tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July and has threatened to send missiles near the U.S. territory of Guam, where the U.S. has military bases.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called Tuesday’s missile firing an “unprecedented, grave and serious threat.” On Wednesday, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, an advocate of bolstering Japan’s missile and strike-back capability, said Tokyo must quickly upgrade its missile arsenal.

China, which is seen by Tokyo as another security concern, questioned Japan’s intentions.

“We think Japan is obliged to explain its real intention to the international community,” Hua Chunying, China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman, told a regular news conference.

Japan has criticized Beijing over its military spending and assertive maritime activity in regional waters.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: Japan's defense ministry seeks record budget for FY 2018

CGI of an Aegis Ashore System

TOKYO, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Ministry of Defense announced on Thursday a record-high budget request for the fiscal year 2018, which, if approved, would mark the sixth annual increase since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe retook office in 2012.

The defense ministry's budget request, up by 2.5 percent from this year's initial budget, totals 5.26 trillion yen (47.8 billion U.S. dollars) for the fiscal year starting from April, 2018.

The budget request was compiled by setting the dollar's exchange rate at 110 yen for fiscal 2018, according to the ministry.

Part of the money would be used to introduce a new missile shield system, possibly the land-based Aegis Ashore, but the amount was unspecified as it still needs to be hammered out with the United States, said the ministry.

Japan has so far taken steps to counter any potential launches of ballistic missiles by deploying high-tech Aegis advanced radar-equipped destroyers which are tasked with stopping missiles in the outer atmosphere, and ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors which will counter the attack at lower altitudes.

The Aegis Ashore system is a land-based version of the Aegis advanced radar system, and with potential to be permanently installed, it is expected to reduce the workload of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces members in missile intercept operations.

Each Aegis Ashore unit costs around 80 billion yen, and Japan would need two units to cover the whole landmass, experts here have said.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Tokyo Conducts Anti-Missile Drills for First Time Amid Recent N Korean Launch

Japanese Patriot (PAC-3) missile interceptor system

Japan has conducted military exercises at two US military bases for the first time in history amid recent DPRK missile launch over Japan, local media reported, citing anonymous sources.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the Mainichi newspaper, the joint military exercises, including training for testing the rapid deployment of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile interceptor systems, were held at US Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo and US Iwakuni Marine Corps's Air Base in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The drills coincided with the latest launch of North Korean missile, which flew over Japan before falling some 733 miles to the east of Japan's northern island Hokkaido.

News Story: Japan to hold drills deploying missile interceptors at U.S. bases

Japanese Patriot (PAC-3) Missile Launcher

TOKYO, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) will hold drills deploying missile interceptors at three U.S. military bases here to prepare for any contingencies stemming from heightened tensions in the Korean Peninsula, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said Friday.

"The drills will contribute to further strengthening the Japan-U.S. alliance," Onodera told a press briefing on the matter.

The Defense Ministry said the exercises will take place at the U.S. Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo and at the Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture in Japan's southwest, next Tuesday.

On Sept. 7, similar drills will be held at the Misawa Air Base in Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan, the ministry also said.

Such drills would mark the first time that exercises deploying missile interceptors have been held at U.S. bases in Japan, the Def Ministry said.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Record 5.2 tril. yen defense budget sought amid N. Korea concerns

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Japanese Defense Ministry plans to seek a record-high budget of 5.26 trillion yen ($48.1 billion) for fiscal 2018 as the country seeks to beef up its missile defense capabilities in the face of growing missile threats by North Korea, a government source said Tuesday.

The ministry plans to set aside 47.2 billion yen to acquire a new type of interceptor missile to be loaded on Japanese destroyers equipped with the Aegis missile defense system, while also asking for funding to introduce a land-based Aegis system known as Aegis Ashore.

The fiscal 2018 budget request would mark a 2.5 percent rise from the initial budget for the current year through March. Japan's defense budget has been on the rise from fiscal 2013 under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government and topped 5 trillion yen in the fiscal 2017 budget for a second-straight year.

The Defense Ministry will leave open the actual sum it is expecting for designing the Aegis Ashore program because of the need for consultations with the United States that owns the technology. But it plans to finalize the costs by the end of the year when the government will draw up the fiscal 2018 budget plan.

Read the full story at The Mainichi

News Report: Top US General Commits to Work With Tokyo to Strengthen Missile Defense

General Joe Dunford (Image: Wiki Commons)

Carla Babb

TOKYO — The top U.S. general and his Japanese counterpart have agreed to work together to strengthen missile defenses for Japan, as Tokyo announced that they will introduce the land-based Aegis Ashore system for additional protection against the North Korean missile threat.

General Joe Dunford, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a small group of reporters in Tokyo that his meetings with Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reaffirmed the "extraordinarily healthy military-to-military relationship" between Japan and the United States.

"I think this is probably about as important a place that I could be … in the wake of recent activity by Kim Jong Un, making sure our allies have no confusion at all about where we are in our overall policy [and] where we are with regards to the military dimension of that policy," Dunford said Friday.

Dunford was visiting Japan after talks with Chinese and South Korean leaders in Beijing and Seoul earlier in the week. He said he offered Abe some of the perspectives picked up during his time in China, while also focusing on the challenge of North Korea and the trilateral efforts that the U.S., Japanese and South Korean militaries needed to deal with the threat.

"I think it's important that allies and friends have complete transparency, so I wanted him to know the nature of my conversations in China," Dunford explained.

News Story: Japan seeks new missile defense ‘assets,’ increased cyber cooperation

CGI of an Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System

By: Aaron Mehta

WASHINGTON — Japan is seeking new missile defense assets in light of the North Korean threat, while also looking at ways to expand a 2015 defense agreement with the United States.

Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, speaking Thursday at the State Department following a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, said that the threat from Pyongyang is driving Japan to look to accelerate certain defense decisions.

Among those changes is an increased focus on missile defense capabilities. In his opening comments, Onodera, speaking through a translator, said “we will continue to promote cooperation in ballistic missile defense, including acquisition of new assets,” a signal that the Japanese government would consider adding to its defensive capabilities.

While nothing official was announced during the 2+2, the Japan Times newspaperreported shortly before the event that officials expect to procure an Aegis Ashore missile defense system. The same report, citing government sources, said the Ministry of Defense is pushing to speed up planned procurement of another Aegis destroyed.

Japan currently has missile defense systems aboard its Aegis class ships, along with Patriot systems on the ground. If Japan sought the Aegis Ashore system, it would join Romania and, by 2018, Poland as partner nations using that design.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: Japan to install new land-based Aegis missile defense system

CGI of an Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System

TOKYO, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Japan's defense ministry is planning to install a defense system made in the United States known as "Aegis Ashore" to address ongoing concerns about tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported on Thursday.

The defense ministry has, thus far, taken steps to counter any potential launches of ballistic missiles by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) by deploying high-tech Aegis advanced radar-equipped destroyers.

The Aegis system is designed to intercept missiles that are flying outside of the Earth's atmosphere, with the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Aegis destroyers charged with targeting them with their Standard Missile-3 interceptors.

In addition, the ministry has deployed its PAC-3 surface-to-air missile defense systems, as its second line of defense, that have the capability of intercepting missiles at lower altitudes as they reenter the earth's atmosphere.

In a push to bolster its missile defense systems, however, the defense ministry has moved up studies of the "Aegis Ashore" defense system to be funded by allocations in the next fiscal year, Kyodo News quoted government sources as saying.

The "Aegis Ashore" is a land-based version of the Aegis advanced radar system and uses the same technology as those fitted to MSDF Aegis destroyers.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Japan, US conduct live-fire drill amid regional tension

Some 300 Japanese and US military personnel on Wednesday carried out live-fire artillery training in northern Japan, officials said, amid high regional tensions over North Korean missile threats.

The drill, part of a 19-day exercise, came after a tense war of words between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang's threats to fire missiles towards the Pacific island of Guam.

Troops from Japan's Ground Self-Defence Force (GSDF) and US Marines fired live ammunition from armed vehicles at a manoeuvre area on the northern island of Hokkaido.

The two forces began the Northern Viper 2017 exercise on August 10, involving a total of 1,300 GSDF troops and 2,000 Marines.

"It is the first joint exercise between the GSDF and US Marines in Hokkaido," a defence ministry spokesman said.

The spokesman denied any link between the drill and recent regional tension over North Korea.

"This is not conducted with a particular country or region in mind," he said.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: Defense Ministry to request funds for 'Aegis Ashore' missile defense system

CGI of an Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System

WASHINGTON -- The Japanese Ministry of Defense will include funding to equip the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) with the "Aegis Ashore" anti-missile system in its budget request for fiscal 2018.

Introducing Aegis Ashore, the ground-based version of the SM-3 anti-missile system on the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF)'s Aegis vessels, is intended to strengthen Japan's defense capabilities against North Korean ballistic missiles.

The ministry will examine Aegis Ashore in conjunction with its review of the National Defense Program Guidelines, and aims to have funds for designing the system earmarked during the government's year-end budget compilation.

It is thought that two or three Aegis Ashore batteries would be required to cover all of Japan, at a cost of 70 to 80 billion yen per battery.

Read the full story at The Mainichi

News Report: Pentagon Completes Largest-Ever Patriot Missile Defense Upgrade in S Korea

A Patriot missile battery

The US 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade in South Korea and engineers from defense contractor Raytheon have completed the largest Patriot missile defense modernization project ever conducted outside a US facility amid the escalation on the Korean peninsula, the Department of Defense said.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The eight-month effort included networking the Patriot missile batteries from geographically dispersed locations around the Korean peninsula and mock air battles. Each battery crew was required to complete a series of competency tests to demonstrate proficiency.

"The purpose of the battalion netted exercise was two-fold," 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade Patriot modernization project officer Tara Gibbs stated. "First, it was to validate the systems to ensure everything worked. … The second was to qualify the soldiers and crews on the new equipment."

News Story: Japan deploys missile interceptors after N. Korea threatens Guam

Japanese Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3)

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan finished deploying interceptors on Saturday along the possible path of North Korean ballistic missiles Pyongyang has threatened to launch toward the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.

The deployment of the surface-to-air missile defense system in western Japan came after North Korea said it is "seriously examining" a plan to simultaneously fire four intermediate-range ballistic missiles over western Japan in an "enveloping strike at Guam."

The Air Self-Defense Force's Patriot Advanced Capability-3 system was deployed in the western prefectures of Shimane, Hiroshima and Kochi, which North Korea said its missiles could cross over, as well as Ehime which is located between Hiroshima and Kochi.

Read the full story at The Mainichi

News Report: Japan Mulls Adding Extra PAC-3 Interceptors to Stop Guam-Bound Missiles

A Japanese Patriot (PAC-3) Missile Defense system

Japan is considering bringing in more Patriot PAC-3 air defense missile systems to shield its territory from North Korean missiles heading for the US island of Guam, local media said Friday.

TOKYO (Sputnik) — North Korea said this week it was examining a plan of a ballistic missile strike near Guam, which hosts several US military bases. The projectiles will travel over the Japanese prefectures of Shimane, Hirosima and Kochi.

Japan’s territory is protected by 34 short-range PAC-3 systems. They are stationed in densely populated areas and do not cover the three said prefectures. Additional interceptor systems would plug those gaps, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said.

Authorities are also considering deploying more destroyers equipped with Aegis missile defense systems. Aegis combat systems can destroy short- to medium-range ballistic missiles.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

News Story: Japan deploys Patriot interceptors as North Korea alarms global leaders

Patriot Advanced Capability-3, or PAC-3

WASHINGTON — Japan has started deploying land-based Patriot interceptors after North Korea threatened to send ballistic missiles flying over western Japan and landing near Guam.

The Japanese Defense Ministry said Friday the Patriot Advanced Capability-3, or PAC-3, surface-to-air interceptors are being deployed at four locations: Hiroshima, Kochi, Shimane and Ehime.

The deployment is largely aimed at responding to the risk of falling fragments while missiles fly over the region.

The four PAC-3 systems are brought from eastern Japan, as its missile defense is largely centered around Tokyo. They are expected to arrive in the designated sites early Saturday.

The ministry did not confirm whether Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera has already issued an order to shoot down incoming missiles.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Report: North Korea ICBM Test Strengthens US Alliances

Brian Padden

SEOUL — North Korea’s latest test of an intercontinental ballistic missile is solidifying U.S. alliances in East Asia while exacerbating already difficult relations with adversaries in the region.

Most significantly South Korea’s position now seems more in line with Washington in emphasizing increased military deterrence and economic sanctions while downplaying for now the possibility for engagement with the Kim Jong Un government in Pyongyang.

“It might signal a more permanent and fundamental shift towards the direction that will strengthen the trilateral security cooperation among the U.S., South Korea and Japan,” said Bong Young-shik, a political analyst with the Yonsei University Institute for North Korean Studies.

However, security analyst Grant Newsham, with the Forum for Strategic Studies in Tokyo says it is too early to tell if the liberal Moon administration’s more hawkish turn is permanent.

“It seems to be a predictable pattern where the North provokes, South Korea gets angry, and then time passes and the forces for a softer approach reassert themselves,” said Newsham.

News Story: Build Bare-Bones Network & Small Satellites For Multi-Domain Battle

US Army HiMARS Truck based missile launcher

By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.

WASHINGTON: The Navy wants the Army’s help win a future Multi-Domain Battle with China, a senior defense official told me last week, but to get it, the two services have to connect through a simple, robust network using small and rapidly-launched satellites.

We don’t need massive bandwidth to handle video teleconferences, full motion video from drones, PowerPoint briefings, and all the digital tools of “micromanagement,” the official believes. We just need a regional command-and-control network for voice commands and bare-bones-data – I’m here, the enemy’s there, shoot them not me – that can run off a single small satellite.

“It doesn’t have to be a big network,” he told me. “You could have one satellite…a temporary small satellite that you’ve popped up.”

This is in keeping with the early Concept of Operation developed for the Air Force’s Operationally Responsive Space program (although the official didn’t mention ORS by name). ORS seeks to end the US military’s dependence on highly capable, highly complex and highly expensive satellites. These multi-billion-dollar masterpieces would take months or years to replace if an adversary shot them down— as China demonstrated it could in 2007.

Read the full story at Breaking Defense

News Story: S. Korea to upgrade Patriot missiles against N. Korea's threats - minister

Patriot (PAC-3) Missile System [File Photo]

SEOUL, July 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's defense chief said Sunday the military will upgrade its Patriot missile system to help defend Seoul and nearby areas from North Korea's growing threats.

Defense Minister Song Young-moo also reaffirmed a plan to establish the country's own missile defense networks, called the Korea Air and Missile Defense (KAMD), at an early date.

"North Korea's firing of an ICBM-class ballistic missile two days ago is a reckless provocation threatening the Korean Peninsula and the international community," he said, inspecting a local Patriot battery, according to his ministry.

It did not reveal the exact location apparently due to security- and intelligence-related reasons.

Read the full story at YonhapNews