U.S. Reluctant to Give Tokyo Missile Warning Data

The United States appears to be reluctant to provide Japan with technology for receiving missile-launch data from a U.S. early warning satellite, sources told Kyodo News yesterday (see GSN, June 7).

As a result, Japan’s Aegis destroyers would have to rely on secondhand information even after Standard Missile 3 interceptors are installed as part of a joint missile defense project with Washington.

Analysts have said Washington is critical of Tokyo’s position that it would only use the missile defense system to defend Japanese territory and remains concerned about providing Japan with advanced technology, which could be transferred to a third party.

Japanese Defense Agency chief Yoshinori Ono and U.S. Missile Defense Agency Lt. Gen. Henry Obering discussed the issue at a meeting in Tokyo Wednesday, Kyodo News reported (Kyodo News/Japan Times, June 9).

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