Sea Power

Top U.S. missile defense officials say they are not overly concerned about Japan’s decision to suspend the planned deployment of two Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense systems aimed at countering North Korean missiles.

Japan’s defense minister, Taro Kono, announced June 15 that he was halting the installations at Akita Prefecture in the north and Yamaguchi Prefecture in the south of Japan’s main island of Honshu, citing cost and technical issues.

Those issues included concerns that the interceptors’ rocket boosters might endanger civilian lives and infrastructure if they did not fall in designated safe areas after separating from the SM-3 Block IIA missile. Communities near both sites opposed the installations, concerned about radiation from the system’s Lockheed Martin Long Range Discrimination Radar.

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