Tag: Aegis Ashore

I wonder if this had more to do with budget belt tightening due to the COVID caused economic crisis than concerns from local residents about hosting the system:

The Defense Ministry is halting its plan to deploy the Aegis Ashore land-based missile defense system in Japan, Defense Minister Taro Kono said Monday, citing costs and technical problems.

The move comes a month after the government gave up on deploying the cutting-edge missile defense system to a Self-Defense Forces compound in the city of Akita, following strong opposition from local residents. Kono reported the latest plan to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last Friday, he said.

In January 2019, the U.S. agreed to sell two Aegis Ashore missile defense systems and other military equipment to Japan at an estimated cost of $2.15 billion (about ¥231 billion).

The Defense Ministry had planned to install two Aegis Ashore systems in Akita Prefecture in eastern Japan and Yamaguchi Prefecture in western Japan sometime after the fiscal year starting April 2025 so that all of Japan was covered by the missile defense systems.

Japan Times

You can read more at the link, but North Korea and China should be happy to see this development.

This is pretty significant that a foreign country is willing to defend US soil with one of their missile defense systems:

Japan will legally be able to use planned Aegis Ashore systems to intercept North Korean missiles launched toward Guam, a top government official said this week.

A pacifist constitution bans Japan from stepping in to defend other nations unless it was also being attacked; however, security legislation passed in 2015 allows the country to exercise its right to collective defense and to defend close allies when attacked — under certain conditions.  [Stars and Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but also keep in mind that Japan is home to two AN/TPY-2 radar sites operated by US soldiers that are also used to detect ballistic missiles launch from North Korea as part of the US homeland defense architecture.  Clearly Japan is a great ally in regards to protecting US citizens from ballistic missile attack.

The Russians are actually more angry at the Japanese for trying to defend themselves than at the North Koreans which are the only reason the Japanese are spending so much money on missile defense in the first place:

Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov on Saturday accused the United States of violating a key arms treaty by selling a missile defence system to Japan.

“The US is deploying them (missile defence systems) at their military bases in Romania and Poland, that is near our western borders, which goes against the 1987 INF Treaty banning the deployment of such systems on the ground,” Ryabkov said in a statement published on the Russian Foreign Ministry website.

“The fact that such complexes could now appear on Russia’s eastern borders creates a situation that we cannot ignore in our military planning,” said Ryabkov.

On Thursday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the deployment of the US missile defence system would have a negative impact on relations between Tokyo and Moscow.

“We consider the step made by the Japanese side as going against efforts of ensuring peace and stability in the region,” Zakharova said, adding that Moscow has “deep regret and serious concern” over the move.

On December 19, the Japanese government approved the installation of two land-based US-made Aegis Ashore missile defence systems to defend the country against North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats.  [AFP]

You can read more at the link.

Considering that Japan already has the SM-3 missile fielded on their Aegis ships the acquisition of Aegis Ashore batteries makes since over competing ballistic missile defense systems such as THAAD:

The Japanese government is pushing ahead with plans to boost its missile defenses in response to the growing threat from North Korea.

The nation’s Cabinet on Tuesday approved the acquisition of two Aegis Ashore systems capable of defending the entire country against incoming missiles.

“North Korea’s nuclear and missile development has become a more serious and imminent threat to our security, entering in a new phase,” a Cabinet statement said. “It is necessary to drastically expand our ballistic missile defense capability in order to continuously and persistently protect our country even during normal circumstances.”  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but the 2023 timeframe is reportedly when the batteries will be in place.  So this is definitely not a near term mitigation to North Korea’s ballistic missile threat.

This expected purchase of an Aegis Ashore system seems to make sense considering it can provide a persistent missile defense capability for Japan without having to rotate in and out their current Aegis BMD ships:

Japan is planning to deploy a new U.S.-developed ground-based missile defense system.

The Defense Ministry is to provisionally request that the fiscal 2018 budget cover planning costs for installing the Aegis Ashore system, according to a ministry official. “We are being urged to enhance our capabilities to continually protect the entirety of Japan from the threat of a missile attack,” the official said.  (……)

Japan’s Defense Ministry has studied whether to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system or the Aegis Ashore shield. But it has not planned for Aegis Ashore installations. The system is not included in the current National Defense Program Guidelines or mentioned in mid-term defense planning documents. The official said Aegis Ashore plans will be finalized by the end of the year.  [Asian Review]

You can read more at the link.