Japan, US to jointly-develop anti-hypersonic interceptor

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Reuters
13 Aug 2023 13:11

The US and Japan will announce the agreement on Friday during a sideline meeting of the Japanese Prime Minister and Joe Biden.

A soldier from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force stands in front of a PAC-3 surface-to-air missile launch system during a temporary deployment drill at US Yokota Air Base in Tokyo, Japan on August 29, 2017. (AFP)

Japan and the US are expected to agree on a joint project to develop an interceptor missile to counter the hypersonic weapons of Russia, China, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Japan's Yomiuri newspaper said on Sunday.

Hypersonic missiles fly at speeds ranging from 5 times to 25 times the speed of sound, some of which can change trajectory mid-flight thereby diminishing the efficacy of conventional anti-ballistic air defense systems.

So far, no interceptor specific to hypersonic missiles has been battle-tested, although "Israel's" Rafael claims to have developed such a technology dubbed "Sky Sonic."

The agreements will take place during a meeting of US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington on Friday, the report stated. However, neither Japanese nor US officials have commented on the news.

According to Yomiuri, Biden and Kishida are set to meet on the sidelines of a trilateral summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at a presidential retreat in the notorious Camp David, Maryland.

The two countries agreed to consider a joint-development of the hypersonic interceptor at a meeting of Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin with their respective Japanese counterparts, Yoshimasa Hayashi and Yasukazu Hamada.

Exploiting the pretext of deterring the DPRK, the United States has opportunistically escalated its military collaboration with Japan and South Korea, raising concerns of nuclear war in the Korean peninsula.

During a military parade that featured newly unveiled attack and reconnaissance aerial and naval drones as well as several Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles, the DPRK warned the US and its allies against their "dangerous war games."

The Minister of National Defense, Kang Sun Nam bashed "the U.S. imperialist warmongers and the group of traitor Yoon Suk Yeol" who "continue to play dangerous war games that may incite an unprecedented nuclear war in the Korean peninsula, with the use of their military muscle against the DPRK while advocating their megalomaniacal 'logic of strength' even at this moment."

The Minister added that "if the United States of America attempts to use armed forces against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the former will face an unimaginable and unforeseen crisis."