The United States has told Japan that it plans to begin deploying jointly developed missile interceptors on U.S. Aegis destroyers in 2008 as part of the joint U.S.-Japanese missile defense initiative, U.S. and Japanese sources said Friday (see GSN, Nov. 11).

The U.S. plan calls for deploying the missile interceptors first on U.S. Aegis destroyers and later on Japanese destroyers because developers need time to integrate operations between the U.S. Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, sources said (Kyodo News Service, Nov. 9).

Japanese officials have been reluctant, however, to move past the research phase of the joint missile defense initiative, citing concerns about the relationship between the initiative and Japan’s right to participate in collective defense, according to the Kyodo News Service.  According to Tokyo’s interpretation, the Japanese Constitution bans exercising such rights, Kyodo reported.

During a working-level security meeting in Washington last month, the United States called on Japan to decide soon whether to move to the development phase of the initiative (Kyodo News Service/Japan Times, Nov. 10).

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