US may deploy missle defense system in Japan

[Keithpotkin]

TOKYO — The United States is considering deploying a destroyer equipped with the advanced Aegis defense system and interceptor missiles at a U.S. naval base in Japan, possibly next year, to protect Japan and U.S. forces here from a North Korean attack using a Rodong ballistic missile, Japanese government sources said Monday.
snip

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=271289

nothing like an arms race to ease the tensions.

[psychopomp]

1. It'll take more than one

Aegis with "interceptor" missiles. NK may have hundreds of missles pointed at Japanese cities. A band-aid with a flag on it?

[Art_from_Ark]

7. I don't think NK would be soooooooooooo stupid

as to launch an attack against Japan. Their accuracy has never been confirmed, and they know they would be annihilated if they were ever to attempt such a crazy move.

Besides, they like that good \en that comes in from Japanese pachinko parlors and from Japanese tourists who pay $1000 to take a three-day tour of that country (which apparently has some very beautiful and wild areas, according to a recent quasi-documentary on Japanese TV).

[psychopomp]

9. If provoked

...by Dumbya, Cheney and Co. enough, who knows where things will go?

[symbolman]

2. I thought maybe

Godzilla was back and lord knows how the Japanese need help against them monsters.. any kind of help, even bogus missle systems..

idiots.

[userdave2061]

8. bogus missle systems???

I'm unsure of your education and ability to understand missile systems but I have to ask where you find that guarding against incoming missiles is 100% bogus. I'm only an amature rocket scientist and my rockets are not guided by anything but gravity and a prayer but even I can see how it is possible to detect incoming missiles and send up a guided rocket to defeat a peremptive strike.

Why do you think something as simple as math and vectors is bogus?

[Keithpotkin]

14. Whats with the uppity DUers

no offense....but i think the bogus remark was off the cuff. i doubt he ment any offense to your priceless missle defense systems

[ixion]

15. comment deleted

wrong system. d'oh!

[maggrwaggr]

19. you're an amateur rocket scientist, are you?

oh good.

Well, Mr. Amateur, the missile defense system, in case you haven't been paying attention, is nothing but a financial black hole of pork.

If you make it work for ten missles, the enemy simply has to send up twenty. If you make it then work for twenty, the enemy can send up forty. If you fix it to make it kill forty, the enemy has to only send up eighty.

And on and on and on .....

They don't even have to be missles. They can be dummies.

You know what a "dummy" is, don't you?

[uberotto]

3. I'm a little confused...

When I was going through the Aegis Radar Display School back in 1990, when it was time to choose our orders (what ship we wanted to go to), one of the choices was in Japan.

So I'm not sure why this is news, since the Navy had Aegis Cruisers stationed in Japan for several years in the 1990's. They may have moved them out of Japan for a while and are now putting them back, but still I don't see why it would be any big deal.

Now when you see a newspaper article talking about selling Aegis based ships to foreign countries... I think that bush had talked about selling an Aegis Distroyer to Tiawan a few years ago, but that deal never went through. The dumb ass...

[2cents]

4. Good start

Now, if they could convince the NK's to put homing signals on their missiles and only fire on a clear day...hmmm

[uberotto]

5. Wrong system...

The Aegis weapon system with "interceptor" missles is a ship based system that has been in production for around 20 years and has a very good track record for accuracy.

What you are thinking of is the Spaced Based Missile Defense System which, while it might someday work (in about 30 or 40 years), has more to do with corporate welfare than national defense.

[psychopomp]

6. On Aegis and "interceptors"

Japan has four Aegis ships already. One was sent to the Indian Ocean to support the US attack on Afghanistan. The Aegis has air-defense radar covering a radius of some 500 kilometers and high-speed information processing. But Japan's Defense Agency officials said the country would not share with the US military any information which would directly lead to the use of force giving the Japanese a means to send their military overseas in a non-combat facility.

edit: link for Aegis WOT dispatch added
The Japanese government is proposing strapping on some (U.S.-made) "interceptor missiles" and stocking up on Patriot missles:
   

Dow Jones Business News
Japan To Upgrade Its Aegis-Equipped Destroyers-Kyodo
Saturday August 23, 9:17 pm ET

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Japan's Defense Agency is planning to upgrade all four of its Aegis-equipped destroyers over four years as part of a plan to equip the Self-Defense Forces with U.S.-made missile defense systems, agency sources said Saturday, Kyodo reported.

It also plans to install the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 antimissile system at about half the 27 ground-to-air missile units of the Air Self-Defense Force during the same period, they said.

It aims to stipulate the plan to equip the four 7,250-ton destroyers with the Sea-based Midcourse Defense system when reviewing the 2001-2005 Midterm Defense Program, along with updating the 1995 National Defense Program Outline, around the end of this year, Kyodo reported.

But the Defense Agency will have to clear financial hurdles, as an estimate shows some Y500 billion will be needed over the four years to upgrade the Aegis ships. It is due to request Y140 billion for one ship in the fiscal 2004 budget, according to Kyodo.

http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/030823/2117000033_1.html">-more-

[uberotto]

11. Thanks for the information...

I've been away from that part of my life (military) for about 10 years, but I still have an interest in it. I knew that the Aegis system was getting a little old, but I wasn't aware that we had already starting exporting the technology.

As for the "sophisticated communications interception capability", you are correct. The Aegis weapons system has the ability to "link up" with other weapons systems and share information. This gives each Aegis Radar System the theoretical range of around 3000 miles. So it would be possible for the Japanese to send their ship to an area close to Iraq, monitor their little bit of Airspace and send the informtion to a U.S. Aegis ship which displays the information and makes determinations on what is a target and what isn't. I guess by some peoples definition, collecting and sharing information isn't really getting involved.

My numbers might not be accurate. As I mentioned earlier, it's been a few years since I've worked on the system.

[psychopomp]

16. Question on Aegis

Ten years' distance from a life in the military is still closer than I have gotten. I learned what I did by reading articles in the news or related topical websites. It is a pleasure to come to DU and learn about things military from so many veterans and active service members who are willing to share their knowledge and experiences.

So, I have a question: is the Aegis not just an "AWACS" of the sea with added, highly precise missile-tracking capability? I thought it was the U.S. Navy's primary electronic "battlespace" plotter, with the ability to use radar and other means of electronic detection to monitor all active elements, from hovercraft to helicopters to hellfire missiles, within its range. The anti-missile technology is seperate, is it not?

Aren't they distinct?

[2cents]

10. Are you sure?

Test of Aegis missile defense records first failure



SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, June 19, 2003
The United States has marked the first failure of its ship-based missile defense system.

The Defense Department said a test of the Aegis missile defense system in the Pacific Ocean failed to intercept the target missile. The Pentagon said the SM-3 interceptor missed its target although its guidance system was activated.

Several U.S. allies have been examining the Aegis system for their missile defense programs, Middle East Newsline reported. The Aegis has been described as an alternative to the ground-based PAC-3 system and is said to be capable of intercepting such missiles as the North Korean No-Dong and Iran's Shihab-3 intermediate-range missiles.

[laconicsax]

12. The article says "first failure"

That would seem to be a good track record. The Aegis system has been around for a very long time, and only one failure in what I think is about 20 years of service is a good record.

[tlb]

13. This article made no sense.

As a prior poster implied, one or more Aegis equipped ships are standard escourt for any carrier battle group and we keep one such group permanently based in Japan. Therefore , American Aegis ships have been " guarding " Japan for close to 20 years.

Secondly, again as noted, Japan has built and deploys its own Aegis equipped ships. Recently these ships have been oriented ( no pun intended ) against North Korea.

Did the writer do no research at all ?

In the meantime, the Japanese themselves have this last week decided to deploy the US designed NMD system to defend from North Korean missile attacks. Perhaps before blaming Japan for an
" arms race " it might be rememebred the North Koreans lobbing ICBMs over Japan.

[Kbowe]

17. So now, Japan becomes a target ......when is it going to end?

I hope the people don't let this happen. Who needs missile defense when the people killing us are in their own countries where we have no business being?

[psychopomp]

18. Japan has been a target all along

Whether or not the U.S. deems to get in the middle, these two countries are not friendly neighbors in the slightest and will continue to build defensive and offensive means to preserve the detente.

[maggrwaggr]

20. the Japs can bloody well pay for it with their own yen

I'm tired of my tax dollars going to this kind of crap