US plans to detect Chinese missile launches with radar in Japan

Washington is to ask Tokyo to host a Homeland Defence Radar unit that would give it early warning of intercontinental ballistic missile launches by China, Russia and North Korea

News comes after China released footage of its next-generation ‘Guam killer’ Dongfeng-26 missile in what analysts said was a ‘message to the US’

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Published: 6:08pm, 29 Jan 2019Updated: 10:22am, 30 Jan 2019

The United States wants to build a state-of-the-art radar in Japan that would be able to detect intercontinental ballistic missile launches and intercept any that threaten North America or its allies.

Washington is planning to ask Tokyo to host its Homeland Defence Radar unit, which is designed to give the US military an early warning of ICBM launches by China, Russia and North Korea, sources in the US and Japanese governments told the Yomiuri newspaper.

Lance Gatling, a defence analyst and head of Asia-Pacific business for Texas-based Firefly Aerospace, said the radar would probably be similar to the one Lockheed Martin is to build on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The contract for the base in Hawaii is US$585 million, but no price has been put on the facility in Japan.

The news comes after China released footage of its next-generation Dongfeng-26 ballistic missile – also known as the “Guam killer” for its range – in a move analysts said was meant to send a message to the United States about its military strength.

“By positioning a radar of this sort in Japan, they will be able to detect the launch of an ICBM from China or North Korea much earlier and easier than from the radar bases in Alaska, California or even Hawaii,” Gatling told the South China Morning Post.

The reach of these radars was limited by the curvature of the earth, he said. “From Alaska or Hawaii, they won’t be able to see a rising ICBM until it is already going very fast and still accelerating, so the added distance that this Japan radar base will provide will give them several tens of additional seconds to respond.”