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A Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) interceptor is launched during a successful test by the US. Photo: Reuters

Japan fears it has lost two-decade arms race with North Korea following latest advances in missile technology

Constrained by production schedules and tight budgets, Japan may instead have to lean more heavily on US to guard against attacks

North Korea

Successful rocket tests have propelled North Korea ahead in a two-decade long arms race with Japan, leaving Tokyo unsure it could fend off a missile strike by the Pyongyang regime without US help, according to military sources.

Under young leader Kim Jong-un, North Korea has test fired 21 ballistic missiles since the start of the year, an unprecedented burst of activity that has rattled its neighbours and the international community.

“Their progress has been faster than anticipated,” a senior Japanese military commander said. “There is a limit to what our current ballistic missile defence system can achieve.”

Their progress has been faster than anticipated. There is a limit to what our current ballistic missile defence system can achieve
Japanese military commander

Planned upgrades to Japan’s ballistic missile defence (BMD) are not due to begin until April at the earliest, while the deployment of new systems designed to destroy incoming warheads could take years to complete.

Constrained by production schedules and tight budgets that limit its ability to accelerate those plans, Japan may instead have to lean more heavily on its US ally to guard against attacks, the sources said.

“Our only option for now may be to rely on the US to stop them,” another source at Japan Self Defence Forces (SDF) said.

Tokyo and Pyongyang have been locked in an arms race since 1998 when North Korea fired a missile over Japan.

In June, a medium range Musudan rocket reached an altitude of 1,000km on a lofted trajectory, marking a breakthrough that could allow Pyongyang lob warheads over the range of Japanese BMD Aegis destroyers patrolling the Sea of Japan.

That would leave older PAC-3 Patriot missile batteries protecting major cities including Tokyo as a last line of defence. A US$1 billion programme to improve their range and accuracy will begin after March, but the first will not be ready until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Warheads from missiles such as Pyongyang’s Rodong, with an estimated range of 1,300km, travel at speeds of up to 3km a second. But rockets like the Musudan, which can fly as far as 3,000km, plunge from space at speeds reaching 21km per second, potentially too fast for existing Patriot batteries.

Japan’s Ministry of Defence also plans to improve the performance of SM-3 missiles on its small Aegis fleet. The SM-3 missiles are designed to hit warheads at the edge of space, but the sources were unsure they could tackle the Musudan.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (centre) at the Sohae Space Centre in North Korea. Photo: AFP

A more powerful version of the SM-3 jointly developed by Japan and the United States, dubbed the Block IIA, is nearing completion, with Japan planning to buy the first of those next year. It has not, however, said how many it will acquire, or when they will be deployed.

Longer term, Japan is evaluating whether to buy Lockheed Martin Corp’s Terminal High Altitude Air Defence (THAAD) system, to add a middle layer to BMD, or build Aegis batteries on shore to bolster its defences.

Any roll out of those, however, would take several years because of time needed to study the technology, secure funding and build and integrate the systems, the sources said.

As Japan struggles to bolster its defences, the US is stepping up help to neighbouring South Korea, promising last week to speed up deployment THAAD batteries there.

“We still think they need time, but whatever the purpose is, the North is doing things at a rate that is beyond our imagination,” South Korean Defence Minister Han Min-koo said in parliament in late August.

Pentagon spokesman Commander Gary Ross said the United States had recently reaffirmed its “unwavering and ironclad” commitment to defend both South Korea and Japan, “guaranteed by the full spectrum of US military capabilities, including conventional, nuclear, and missile defence capabilities”.

“We continue to support [South Korean] and Japanese efforts to strengthen their respective defence capabilities against the North Korean nuclear and missile threat,” Ross said in an emailed response.

For now, Japan is making do with a diminished force. It has four Aegis destroyers each equipped with eight SM-3 missiles. Two of those, however, are laid up for maintenance leaving only two available to watch for North Korean missiles, a third SDF source said.

“[The heightened threat] comes just as we face a pinch with our Aegis fleet,” he said. “Cooperation with the US Aegis ships deployed in Japan is going to be crucial.”

By March 2019 Japan plans eight BMD Aegis ships, but training and maintenance means that only two ships will likely be out on regular patrols at any one time.

US reinforcements that could help cover more sky are, however, sailing into the region. The US Navy, as part of a plan to bolster its presence formulated before North Korea’s latest missiles tests, has increased its BMD Aegis ships patrolling the region to 10 from seven in the past two years.

Whether that will prove sufficient to protect against further North Korean advances is yet to be seen.

“North Korean ballistic missile technology is progressing step by step and every time we raise our capability they improve theirs,” a fourth SDF source said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: N. Korea overtaking Japan in two-decade arms race
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