The Japan Times:

The Defense Ministry is poised to build two new Aegis destroyers in place of an abandoned plan to introduce the Aegis Ashore ground-based ballistic missile defense system.

A total of some 500 additional Maritime Self-Defense Force personnel will be secured, in line with the introduction of the two new vessels, while the ministry will improve the work environment for crew members at a time when securing and maintaining personnel for long-term maritime missions is a challenge, informed sources said.

The two new destroyers, for which some 250 crew members will be secured each, will go into service with eight other Aegis ships already scheduled for deployment. The ministry will hasten work to fix details of the plan in order to seek necessary funds under the government’s fiscal year 2021 budget, to be compiled next month…

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