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Space Links
References
SAC - Space Activities Commission
NAL - National Aerospace Laboratory
NASDA - National Space Development Agency
ISAS - Institute of Space and Astronautical Science
The 2003 edition of Japan's White Paper for Defense, released in August 2003, advocated deployment of missile defenses to deal with "unpredictable threats, such as ballistic missile and terrorist attacks". The Defense Agency requested 200 billion yen (US$1.7 billion) for fiscal 2004 and 2005 to buy US Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) anti-missile systems as well as US SM-3s (Standard Missile 3). Directed largely at North Korea, the Japanese deployment would be two-tiered, combining the Aegis Sea-Based system and the PAC Patriot Ground Based System. Upgrading one destroyers with the SM-3 interceptor missiles would be completed by the end of 2007, at a cost of 54.2 billion yen. The first surface-to-air PAC-3 systems will be deployed at bases in Narashino, Takeyama, Kasumigaura and Iruma by 2007 to protect the Tokyo area, at a cost of 76.6 billion yen. The JDA hopes to equip 16 of its 27 Air Self Defense Force ground-to-air units with Patriot systems, and to deploy four Aegis Cruisers with SM-3s. The total cost of the system is estimated to reach 500 billion yen by 2011.
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