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Aegis Ashore missile defence site in northern Japan could be 5 metres underwater if tsunami hits, minister confirms
- Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya says the site, in Akita Prefecture, would need to be reinforced against a possible natural disaster
- The latest revelation comes as Iwaya apologised for the erroneous selection process for the site, which was made using incorrect Google Earth data
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The preferred site for the Aegis Ashore missile defence system in northern Japan could be inundated to a depth of 5 metres in the event of an offshore earthquake triggering a tsunami, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed.
The latest revelation to dog the single largest non-aviation defence project in Japanese history has raised new questions over the competence of the country’s bureaucrats, and the military planning that went into the deployment of a system the government has declared is vital to the nation’s defence.
Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya travelled to Akita Prefecture on Monday to apologise directly to Governor Norihisa Satake for the ministry’s earlier error connected to the site selection for Aegis Ashore, which is designed to intercept incoming ballistic missiles and will complement Aegis-equipped warships operating in the Sea of Japan.
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That error involved the ministry relying on the Google Earth app to determine the height of mountains close to candidate sites for the two planned Aegis Ashore bases. The figures provided by the app were inaccurate, and the ministry compounded the problem by failing to carry out on-site inspections.
“I deeply apologise,” Iwaya told the governor before a group of journalists. “I have instructed [officials] to be thorough in preventing a recurrence.”
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