Japan’s Jiji Press reported on the 16th that the new interceptor missile ‘SM-3 Block 2A’, jointly developed by the United States and Japan and successfully tested, began to be delivered to Japan.
According to a report, an official from the Japanese Ministry of Defense said that the Ministry of Defense had purchased SM-3 Block 2A interceptor missiles through the U.S. Foreign Military Assistance (FMS), and that some of them had been delivered by the end of March this year.
SM-3 Block 2A is estimated at about 4 billion yen (about 39.2 billion won) per shot, and it is known that the Ministry of Defense has invested a total of 178.7 billion yen (about 1.7535 trillion won) in the purchase of the missile so far. This is a budget to purchase about 44 rounds.
The delivered missiles will be sequentially deployed on the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Aegis ships, which are expected to shape North Korea’s air defense capabilities against ballistic missiles.
The SM-3 Block 2A, which was jointly developed by the US and Japan in 2006 and successfully tested in 2020, is a weapon to counter North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) threat, and is the latest among existing SM-3 missiles.
It has an interception altitude of more than 1000 km and a range of up to 2500 km. Its speed also reaches Mach 16 to 18, 16 to 18 times faster than sound, and is evaluated as suitable for responding to North Korean missiles launched with a ‘lofted trajectory’ that shoots at a higher angle than normal.
In particular, Jiji News reported that the SM-3 Block 2A could be used to intercept North Korean missiles headed for US territory in the event of an ‘existence crisis’.
An existential crisis refers to a situation in which Japan’s existence is threatened and there is a clear danger to the Japanese people as a result of an armed attack against another country closely related to Japan.
Japan stipulates that in the event of an existential crisis, the Self-Defense Forces can counterattack by exercising the right to collective self-defense within the minimum scope if there are no other countermeasures. As a result, even if Japan is not attacked, missiles heading for the United States can be intercepted.
Meanwhile, a ballistic missile launched by North Korea in October of last year and passed over Japan’s Aomori Prefecture reached an altitude of about 1,000 km and flew about 4,600 km before sinking into the Pacific Ocean.
This seems to show off its ability to put Guam, where the U.S. military’s strategic bombers and nuclear submarine bases are located, within range.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.