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Japan to introduce Aegis warships to combat DPRK threat

TOKYO: Japan's Defence Agency plans to introduce two upgraded Aegis warships to combat a reported threat from North Korean Taepodong ballistic missiles, a newspaper said here on Thursday.

The two ships worth 240 billion yen (2.3 billion dollars) were budgeted for in the agency's outline five-year defence programme starting in April 2001, the Yomiuri Shimbun said, quoting agency officials.

A Defence Agency spokesman declined to comment. The new Aegis warships would be equipped with Patriot Advance Capability (PAC-3) missiles and improved radar and firing controls to fight low-level ballistic missile attacks, the report said.

The current PAC-2 missiles mainly target aircraft, it said, and were not prepared to defend the country's four Aegis missile warships against ballistic missiles such as the Taepodong.

Japan's defence chiefs also aimed to replace the P-3C patrol plane and C-1 transport aircraft with new Japan-made models, said the Yomiuri Shimbun report.

Aegis warships are destroyers equipped with computers that allow them to handle attacks against more than 10 targets simultaneously, automatically intercepting incoming missiles.

Japan has one for each of its four destroyer units.

North Korea launched a medium-range Taepodong missile which flew over Japan on August 31, 1998 without warning, alarming Seoul, Tokyo and Washington. Pyongyang insisted the rocket was launching a satellite.

In reaction, Japan's government imposed sanctions on North Korea, including a food aid ban, which were lifted last month as Tokyo sought to establish diplomatic ties with Pyongyang.

US and Japanese officials agreed in August last year to research a sea-based Theatre Missile Defence (TMD) system which uses satellites to pinpoint incoming missiles and then shoot them down.

Japan's Defence Agency was considering introducing a navy version of the TMD to combat high level missile attacks which cannot be stopped by the PAC-3 missiles, said the Yomiuri.

The newspaper said the upgraded Aegis warships were being planned after reports that North Korea had been deploying a Taeopodong missile. AFP