Japan Reviews Inclusion of Hypersonic Missile Defense Budget in Next Year's Budget Proposal

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] On the 22nd, Asahi Shimbun reported that Japan's Ministry of Defense is planning to establish a defense system necessary to defend against hypersonic missiles and is adjusting to include the required costs in next year's budget request. This is interpreted as a measure with North Korea in mind.

Asahi quoted a Japanese government official on the same day saying, "(The Ministry of Defense) is adjusting to include a budget related to enhancing interception capabilities against hypersonic missiles, which fly faster than conventional missiles and follow irregular trajectories making interception difficult, in next year's budget request."

Currently, when missiles are launched from neighboring countries toward Japan, radars and early warning devices deployed across various locations detect and track their movements. If it is expected that a missile will fall within Japan, missiles mounted on Aegis ships intercept and destroy it outside the atmosphere. If this fails, missiles deployed on land intercept it near the ground.

The Ministry of Defense is reviewing plans to enhance the capabilities of fixed radars and secure additional early warning devices to respond to hypersonic missiles. They are also considering improving the capabilities of the automatic surveillance control system and increasing the number of interceptor missiles.

This measure is interpreted as being aimed at North Korea. North Korea first test-fired the hypersonic missile "Hwasong-8" in September last year. During the hypersonic missile test launch on January 5, it claimed that "the missile performed a lateral maneuver of 120 km from the initial launch azimuth to the target azimuth and hit a target set at 700 km," suggesting the application of left-right irregular maneuvering technology.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.