Japan’s New Super-Sized Destroyer Will Help Defend Against Ballistic Missiles And More

July 31, 2018

The Drive:

Japan Marine United, or JMU, has launched the first example of a new subclass of guided missile destroyers for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, which will significantly boost the country’s ballistic missile defense capabilities, particularly with regards to North Korea.

At the same time, though, the ship will enhance Japan’s ability to defend its own territorial claims and project naval power more broadly in East Asia and beyond. The future JS Maya slipped into the water during a ceremony, with Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera in attendance, at JMU’s shipyard at Isogo Ward in Yokohama, near the Japanese capital Tokyo, on July 30, 2018.

The destroyer is the first of two so-called 27DD or 27DDG ships, which are subvariants of the Atago-class that is already in Japanese service. The Atago-class is itself an evolution of the Kongō-class, which are derivatives of the U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class, but feature a better radar horizon due to the superstructure radar placement being higher than it is on its American counterparts among other changes.

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