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MDAA Alert:
Lost in Transparency
June 19, 2020

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaking during a press conference at the Prime
Minister's Office on June 18, 2020. (Photo: Screenshot of Cabinet Public Relations
Office of Japan)
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Dear Members and Friends,
.
Caught by surprise, Japan suspended its coveted land-based homeland missile defense
system, the Aegis Ashore sites. This system would give persistent 24/7 ballistic
missile defense for the population of Japan against the current and growing threat
of North Korean missiles.
On Monday this week, the Japanese Minister of Defense Taro Kono announced [[link removed]]
the suspension of the two Aegis Ashore sites being built in Japan that were to provide
persistent ballistic missile defense of Japan and its population .
"I made a decision on Friday to suspend the process... For the time being, Japan
will continue to counter (the threat) with Aegis-equipped ships." - Japanese Minister
of Defense Taro Kono on June 15, 2020.
Japan is one of the United States' most capable and reliable allies. The 75 year
partnership is a cornerstone of the strategic stability in the Pacific and has
assured the defense and security of Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Taiwan,
and East Asia. The partnership is the vital lynchpin of all other U.S. alliances
and partnerships in the region. Beyond East Asia, the U.S.-Japan partnership is
critically important to other allies in the Indo-Pacific like Australia, New Zealand,
India, and Pacific Island nations who partner closely with Japan and have shared
concerns about countering Chinese and North Korean aggressive behavior in the region.
Japan burden sharing [[link removed]]
support to the U.S. Treasury is more than any other United States ally. Japan provides
home porting and basing for the U.S. 7th Fleet, the U.S. 5th Air Force, U.S. Army
Japan, and III Marine Expeditionary Force, and pays 75% of their overall costs of
$5.87 billion per year. Around 54,000 American service men and women across over
85 American bases are stationed in Japan today. Japan by constitutional law [[link removed]]
cannot have offensive forces and is restricted to defensive forces which they have
in place with the Japanese Self Defense Force made up of an air, ground, and maritime
components. They somehow maintain some of the most "offensively capable" defensive
forces of any of our allies. All three of these Japanese Self Defense branches have
their own missile defense systems.
Japan is our most capable and most committed ally in the Pacific in terms of air
and missile defense development and deployment. Unique among our allies - Japan
has high technology (fourth and fifth generation) forces in significant numbers
- and this capability is grounded in a lot of U.S. supplied systems like F-35s,
F-15s, E-2Ds, AEGIS ships, Patriot, MV-22s, C-130s, P-3s etc. Missile defense is
one of the many ways Japan shares the burden, spending over $1B to jointly perform
research and development of the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA missile defense
interceptor, which is the most advanced interceptor carried aboard U.S. Navy and
Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force ships. Japan also licenses Patriot air and
missile defense systems, including the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) interceptor,
in cooperation with U.S. companies.
It is in the best interest of the United States, for Japan to have the ability to
protect both Japan and the U.S. forces based there in a crisis, particularly since
the eastern Pacific is seeing a persistent increase in the number and intensity
of crises. Last week, North Korea reoccupied [[link removed]]
demilitarized areas and blew up [[link removed]]
a multi-million dollar liaison office, adding to its continual and recent missile
testing [[link removed]]
against United Nations resolutions and sanctions. Russia is deploying three [[link removed]]
of its new hypersonic missile equipped frigates to their Pacific Fleet and unveiled
its new anti-ship missile [[link removed]].
The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and Air Force (PLAAF) have repeatedly violated
the air space and integrity of Taiwan in the Taiwan Strait [[link removed]],
Japan in the Senkaku Islands [[link removed]],
and the Philippines [[link removed]]
and Vietnam [[link removed]]
in the South China Sea. China has over the last year expanded its ballistic and
hypersonic missile capabilities with the operationalization of two new nuclear ballistic
missile submarines [[link removed]]
as well as the unveiling of the DF-100 [[link removed]]
hypersonic, theater level anti-ship missile, DF-17 [[link removed]]
conventional missile and DF-ZF hypersonic glide body, and the DF-41 [[link removed]]
intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). China in the last year has also increased
its nuclear warhead stockpile [[link removed]]
from 290 warheads to 320. These military developments are part of a Chinese strategy
to overmatch its neighbors (and U.S. forward deployed forces) in capacity and capability
and are integrated with economic efforts such as predatory lending under the One
Belt, One Road initiative to create dependencies and overpower neighbors into appeasement
without conflict.
The missile threat facing the U.S. and Japan is substantial with North Korea and
China adding to their missile arsenals and developing new capabilities. The U.S.
and Japanese missile defense capabilities must keep pace with this threat. Continued
deep collaboration between the U.S. and Japan should remain a central element in
the alliance relationship and will allow both nations to share the cost and burden
of providing this essential defense capability needed to deter and defend against
attack from North Korea and China. Furthermore, close collaboration is needed to
maintain the highest standards of interoperability between U.S. and Japanese forces
so they can operate effectively during a crisis.
"We should renew our discussion of adequate deterrence we need, considering North
Korea's missile technology that has advanced since the time we introduced our missile
defense systems," - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on June 18, 2020.
The U.S. will work with Japan to help them solve the technological issues associated
with Aegis Ashore and help review the budget trade-offs between providing persistent
AEGIS defense with land-based systems versus ship based systems so Japan can move
forward to the correct long term solution. It is imperative for the Japanese-U.S.
relationship to not allow a technical and cost challenge to develop into a political
crack that China, Russia and North Korea would seek to exploit.
Undoubtedly, this pause will allow both nations to collectively do a deep dive on
how we best together develop, integrate, and deploy the most effective air and missile
defense capabilities to negate, deter and defend from North Korea and China.
The Japanese-American alliance will remain solid and our security and prosperity
will remain linked together.
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Respectfully,
Riki Ellison
Chairman and Founder
Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance
Click Here to Join MDAA [[link removed]]
MDAA is a non-profit, non-partisan tax-exempt 501(c) (4) organization. Our mission
is to make the world safer by advocating for the development and deployment of missile
defense systems to defend the United States and its allies against missile threats.
We are a membership-funded organization that does not advocate on behalf of any
specific system, technology, architecture or entity. Founded in 2002, MDAA is the
only organization in existence whose primary mission is to recruit, organize, and
mobilize proponents to advocate for the critical need of missile defense. Visit
our website www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org [[link removed]]
for more information.
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Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance
515 King Street, Suite 330
Alexandria, VA 22134
Phone: (703) 299-0060
Email: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]

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