Japan to spend $4.2b on missile defense system radar

TOKYO — Japan said Monday that it would spend some $4.2 billion over the next 30 years on installing and operating US radar systems to protect itself against possible foreign missile threats.

The move was announced by Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera, who also said Tokyo had picked Lockheed Martin Corp to build a powerful new $1.2 billion radar for two ground-based Aegis ballistic missile defense stations.

“By using this new radar, we will increase our ability to cope with missiles on lofted trajectories raising the level of ballistic missile defense,” he told reporters.

It is the latest sign that Japan is forging ahead with plans to reinforce its defenses despite a pledge from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to denuclearize.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has passionately argued for the upgrading of the nation’s military in light of threats from Pyongyang, which has several times fired missiles over Japan and into waters near the country.

The purchase could also help Tokyo ease trade friction with Washington as its key ally threatens to impose tariffs on Japanese auto imports.

The two radars will cost around $1.17 billion each, with maintenance and other operational costs putting the estimated budget at the two sites over 30 years at $4.2 billion.

Other outlays, including for missile launchers, interceptors, buildings and defenses for the two sites, will add to the final tally.

The radar decision means Aegis Ashore can be added to a defense budget proposal slated for release next month ahead of any meeting between Abe and US President Donald Trump in September, when Abe is expected to attend the United Nations in New York.

Trump has cranked up pressure on Tokyo with tariffs on steel and threats of levies on car imports, although during a visit to Tokyo in November he welcomed Japan’s procurement of Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters and urged Japan to buy more US weapons and “billions and billions of dollars of additional products of all kinds”.

The Aegis Ashore radar choice was between Raytheon Co’s Spy-6 radar, designed to upgrade the US Navy’s fleet of Aegis warships, and a version of Lockheed Martin Corp’s Long Range Discrimination Radar, which will be deployed in the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense anti-ballistic missile system in Alaska around 2020.

Both radars have far greater ranges than current Aegis radars operated by Japan or the United States.