Japan Pouring Billions Into Sea-Based Missile Defense
Date
12/25/2023 7:10:43 AM
(MENAFN- Asia Times) Japan's Ministry of Defense (MOD) has allocated substantial funding to build two massive Aegis System Equipped Vessels (ASEV), marking a pivotal shift from land-based systems to a more dynamic and versatile naval approach to countering ballistic missile threats from China and North Korea.
Naval News reported
that the MOD has secured US$2.6 billion (373.1 billion yen) for fiscal year 2024 to build two ASEVs. The big-ticket budget allocation comes after Japan scrapped earlier plans to deploy a land-based Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense system.
Naval News notes that Japan's MOD plans to begin building the first ship in the next fiscal year and requested 379.7 billion yen in a defense budget request on August 31.
It says that the final budget for the ASEVs' construction is almost the same as ordered. Naval News says that Defense Minister Minoru Kihara met with Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki to discuss the matter on December 19.
Japan's MOD has selected Lockheed Martin -made AN/SPY-7 solid-state radars (SSRs) for the two ASEVs over Raytheon's AN/SPY-6 radar, which was initially designed for US Navy warships equipped with the Aegis Combat System.
A Japanese Aegis Ashore destroyer. Image: Twitter
The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) is expected to take delivery of the first ASEV during fiscal year 2027, with the second one delivered in fiscal 2028, according to the Naval News report.
Naval News describes the ASEV as similar to two Maya-class ships with a Mk-45 (Mod.4) 5-inch/62-caliber (127 mm) main gun, SM-3 Block IIA and SM-6 missiles. The ASEVs are set to be upgradeable throughout their projected 40-year service lives.
In an August 2023 article for The Warzone , Thomas Newdick notes that the new ships will take on a more extensive counter-hypersonic weapons capability over time with the addition of new weaponry.
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