DATE=7/27/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=JAPAN MISSILE DEFENSE (L)
NUMBER=2-252180
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=TOKYO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: U-S officials say Tokyo and Washington are
moving a step closer to building a missile defense
system to protect Japan. The two nations have been
doing research on missile defenses for some time, and
are now crafting an agreement to focus that research
at sea and do some testing of a promising system. The
development comes as the two nations are expressing
fears that North Korea might fire another rocket
across Japan. Jim Randle reports from Tokyo.
TEXT: One idea is to upgrade the air defense system
on ships to handle the far more difficult task of
shooting down fast moving missile warheads. The
current U-S Navy Aegis system uses powerful radars to
sense targets, advanced computers to keep track of
them and a fast moving missile to shoot them down.
Defense experts say shooting down a missile warhead is
essentially hitting a bullet with another bullet. To
do that, every element of the current system will have
to be made more powerful and faster.
Japan already has some advanced ships equipped with
the Aegis air defense system that could be the
starting point for a missile defense system. A senior
defense official says Japan's island geography might
also make a shipboard system a logical choice for
Tokyo.
U-S officials say the two nations have been doing some
studies of missile defenses and are trying to pick the
most promising path for research. They say a formal
agreement is under discussion and that would commit
more money to the project and result in a limited
amount of testing over the next two years.
The deal covers legal and technical details, including
limits on transferring the technology to other
nations, and the financial responsibilities of each
side. Officials say the agreement is nearly finished,
but will not be signed during U-S Defense Secretary
William Cohen's current visit to Japan.
The talks come as North Korea may be getting ready for
another ballistic missile test.
Pyongyang fired a rocket last year that roared across
Japan and far out into the Pacific. North Korea said
it was launching a satellite designed to play
revolutionary hymns into the cosmos. But no satellite
was ever detected by space-tracking radars, and many
Western defense experts said it was actually a weapons
test.
U-S intelligence officials said a few weeks ago that
work at a North Korean launch pad meant Pyongyang
could launch a new rocket in a matter of weeks or
months.(Signed)
Neb/jr/plm
27-Jul-1999 00:02 AM LOC (27-Jul-1999 0402 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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