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2 Japan shields itself from
attack By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - It's not the fictional Super X
project, designed to defend Tokyo, in the
Godzilla movie series. It's a real project
designed to shield Japan - the capital first and
other parts of the country later - from a real
threat.
Amid skyrocketing concerns about
neighboring North Korea's nuclear and missile
programs, Japan has recently revved up efforts to
boost its defense capabilities, including a
missile-defense system, either on its own or with
its most important ally,
the
United States.
Japan will deploy the
Patriot Advanced Capability 3 (PAC3) system at an
Air Self-Defense Force base near Tokyo at the end
of this month. It will be the first in a series of
PAC3 systems to be deployed at a total of 11 Air
SDF bases across the country by the end of fiscal
2010. Surface-to-air PAC3 missiles are designed to
shoot down incoming enemy ballistic missiles at
altitudes of between 10 and 20 kilometers.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has
made a significant boost in missile-defense
expenditures for the fiscal year starting on April
1, despite a minuscule cut in overall defense
spending due to the nation's tight fiscal
situation, the worst among major industrialized
countries.
In a move that stirred up
controversy in Japan, the Abe government is also
considering stretching the boundaries of the
postwar pacifist constitution to make it possible
for Japan to strike North Korean ballistic
missiles heading to the US. In 2003, the
government of then-prime minister Junichiro
Koizumi issued a statement that Japan could not
shoot down missiles bound for the US because doing
so would be tantamount to collective defense - or
coming to the military aid of an ally under attack
- banned under the nation's "supreme law". Abe has
vowed to revise the constitution.
Neighboring North Korea's nuclear test
last October - which followed its test-firing of
several missiles in the Sea of Japan between Japan
and the Korean Peninsula last July - sparked an
international uproar and raised regional tensions.
Japan regards North Korea as its biggest security
threat.
Japan's concerns about North
Korea's nuclear and missile programs have not
abated despite recent progress on the diplomatic
front. To be sure, a landmark agreement was
reached in Beijing in mid-February during the
previous round of six-party talks - which also
involve the US, China, Russia and South Korea -
aimed at dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear program.
But it remains uncertain whether the reclusive
Stalinist state will actually go so far as to
abandon its nuclear program completely.
In
the agreement on North Korea's initial steps
toward nuclear disarmament, Pyongyang pledged to
"shut down" and "seal" its Yongbyon reactor within
60 days in return for 50,000 tonnes of fuel oil or
economic aid of equal value. The closure of
Yongbyon will be verified by international
inspectors. North Korea will eventually receive an
additional 950,000 tonnes of fuel oil or economic
aid of equal value when it permanently "disables"
its nuclear operations.
Aside from the
nuclear threat, the issue of North Korea's missile
program has so far been pushed to the back burner.
North Korea firing missiles carrying biological or
chemical weapons at Japan would also be a
nightmare scenario for Tokyo. Biological and
chemical weapons are less expensive and easier to
manufacture than nuclear weapons, and North Korea
is suspected of possessing a large stockpile of
them.
Japan decided in December 2003 to
introduce a missile-defense system at an estimated
cost of up to 1 trillion yen (about US$8.5
billion). Under the system, PAC3 missiles will be
deployed, with the first ones in the Tokyo
metropolitan area.
In July 2005, the Diet
- Japan's parliament - revised the SDF Law to
allow the then Defense Agency chief - now the
defense minister - to order emergency missile
intercepts without waiting for approval from the
prime minister and the cabinet. Since North Korean
missiles could reach Japanese territory within
about 10 minutes, the defense chief could not
afford to follow normal procedures for getting
permission at a cabinet meeting to launch
interceptor missiles.
Under the revised
SDF Law, if there are no clear signs of a launch
but conditions call for high alert and there is no
time to seek consent, the defense chief can
mobilize the SDF to stand by for any sudden attack
and order an intercept under emergency guidelines
approved in advance by the prime minister. Under
the new law, the prime minister must report the
results of any intercept to the Diet shortly after
launch.
The first batch of PAC3 missiles
to be deployed will be imported from the US. Japan
plans to get domestic defense contractor
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd to produce the
rest. Although the cost of producing the missiles
domestically is much higher than purchasing them
from the US, the long-term costs, including
maintenance, will be less and Japan will also be
able to boost its own missile-production
technologies.
The government budget plan
for the next fiscal year starting on April 1,
which is expected to be enacted in the Diet as
early as next Monday, calls for overall defense
spending of 4.8 trillion yen for fiscal 2007, down
12.3 billion yen, or 0.3%, from the amount
allocated in the current fiscal year's initial
budget, marking it the fifth straight year of
decline. But it calls for a sharp rise in
missile-defense expenditures to 182.6 billion yen,
up 42.7 billion yen, or 30.5%, from the initial
budget for the current fiscal year.
The
Defense Ministry plans to deploy its first PAC3
system at Iruma Base in Saitama prefecture, next
to Tokyo, at the end of this month, as originally
planned, and in three other prefectures, also
adjacent to Tokyo, by the end of 2007, instead of
the original March 2008 deadline. The Air SDF
bases where the PAC3 systems are to be deployed in
the three prefectures by the end of this year are
Narashino Base in Chiba prefecture, Kasumigaura
Base in Ibaraki prefecture, and Takeyama Base in
Kanagawa prefecture.
The PAC3 missiles can
protect areas within a radius of 20km from the
launch sites. In an emergency, in which signs are
apparent that a hostile missile launch is
imminent, the PAC3 missiles at Iruma Base in
southern Saitama prefecture are expected to be
moved to SDF garrisons in Nerima and Ichigaya in
Tokyo to protect key facilities in central Tokyo,
such as the Diet building and the prime minister's
official residence.
The missile-defense
budget increase for fiscal 2007 is mainly to pay
for accelerating the deployment of PAC3 missiles.
It will advance some PAC3 purchases from the US
originally planned for fiscal 2008 or later,
resulting in an increase in the number of PAC3
missiles to be deployed in the four prefectures
surrounding Tokyo by the end of 2007.
After deploying the PAC3 systems at the
four Air SDF bases in the four prefectures
surrounding Tokyo, the Defense Ministry plans to
introduce the systems to seven other Air SDF bases
in other parts of the country between fiscal 2008
and fiscal 2010. A total of 16 Air SDF missile
units will be deployed at the 11 bases.
During fiscal 2008, the system will be
deployed at Hamamatsu
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