Japan and US want deal to develop interceptor missile to counter hypersonic warheads from China, Russia and North Korea
Japan and US want deal to develop interceptor missile to counter hypersonic warheads from China, Russia and North Korea
- President Joe Biden will meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday
Japan and the US will agree this week to develop an interceptor missile to counter hypersonic warheads from China, Russia and North Korea, it was claimed yesterday.
The agreement to target weapons designed to evade ballistic missile defenses is expected when President Joe Biden meets with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the US on Friday.
The report, published in Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper, did not give a source for the information and Japanese Foreign Ministry officials could not be reached for comment last night.
Unlike typical ballistic warheads that fly on predictable trajectories, hypersonic projectiles can change course, making them more difficult to target.
US President Joe Biden and Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister of Japan, shake hands ahead of a bilateral meeting ahead of the Group of Seven Leaders’ Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on Thursday, May 18
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US President Joe Biden pose for a group photo at Itsukushima Shrine during the G7 summit on May 19
Biden and Kishida will meet at a trilateral summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Camp David, Maryland, the report said.
The US and Japan agreed in January to consider developing the interceptor at a meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin with their Japanese counterparts.
The deal would be the second such missile defense technology collaboration after Washington and Tokyo developed a longer-range missile to hit nuclear warheads in space.
Japan deploys the missile on warships in the sea between Japan and the Korean Peninsula to defend against North Korean attacks.