Japan, US Agree More Cooperation in Missile Defense

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, June 13, 2003

Japan, US Agree More Cooperation in Missile Defense

Japanese and US military officials agreed Friday to carry out further cooperation in developing two-stage missile defense system.

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Japanese and US military officials agreed Friday to carry out further cooperation in developing two-stage missile defense system.

Ronald Kadish, director of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency told Shigeru Ishiba, director general of Japan's Defense Agency, that the missile defense system will be useful for Japan, Kyodo News reported.

Ishiba said systems on battle management, command, control, communications and intelligence must be integrated. Kadish agreed but called for a "spiral approach" instead of pursuing a perfect system from the beginning.

Kadish came to Japan to attend a ballistic missile defense conference sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics that was held Monday and Tuesday in Kyoto.

The system consists of two kinds of missiles --the ground-to-airPAC-3 and the ship-launched SM-3. The former developed from PAC-2 that Japan possesses is able to intercept ballistic missiles whichhas reentered the atmosphere, while the latter has a longer range to punch the target outside the atmosphere.

Japan has been developing ship-borne missile defense system with the United States since 1999, and the Marine Self-Defense Forces is equipped with four advanced Aegis destroyers which can serve as launch pad.

Critics maintain that the missile defense system is an infringement of Japan's exclusive self-defense policy, but the military insists on the deployment, citing the alleged missile threat from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Earlier Japanese reports said Japan intends to start deploying the system in 2006.

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