Indo-Pacific news

Japan is continuing to explore its Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) options following its earlier decision to cancel plans which would have seen it place two Aegis Ashore systems at locations on the main island of Honshu.

Among the options floated by the country’s defence ministry include purchasing more Aegis destroyers, or commercially-derived ships equipped with the Aegis Ashore, or mounting the systems on barges and parking offshore. The pros and cons of each of the options were also disclosed in a publicly released document.

The US ally cancelled its Aegis Ashore plans in the face of vociferous opposition to the deployment by local residents, as well as technical difficulties in getting the boosters of the system’s SM-3 missiles to reliably drop onto designated areas instead of onto populated areas surrounding the designated sites.