The Mainichi:
The Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to approve a plan on Dec. 19 to introduce two land-based ballistic missile defense (BMD) systems called “Aegis Ashore,” sources close to the government said.
The move is part of the government’s efforts to beef up Japan’s defense capabilities to counter the growing threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile development programs.
In an effort to speed up the introduction of the systems, the government will earmark approximately 3 billion yen in the supplementary budget draft for fiscal 2017 for predeployment research, among other efforts. The government aims to deploy two Aegis Ashore sets during fiscal 2023.
