US State Department approves US$3.3 billion anti-ballistic missile sale to Japan

Japan will buy up to 73 of the Raytheon-made SM-3 Block IIA missiles, used to intercept other incoming missiles

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The launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Photo: Handout via EPA-EFE

Published: 6:15am, 28 Aug 2019Updated: 6:15am, 28 Aug 2019

Washington approved the US$3.3 billion sale of anti-ballistic missiles to Japan Tuesday, following close behind a series of new ballistic missile tests by North Korea that could threaten the US ally.

Japan will buy up to 73 of the Raytheon-made SM-3 Block IIA missiles, which are designed to be fired by the shipboard Aegis system to intercept incoming ballistic missiles, the Pentagon said.

The US Missile Defence Agency, the Japan Ministry of Defence, and US Navy sailors aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones successfully conduct a flight test resulting in the first intercept of a ballistic missile target using the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA off the west coast of Hawaii. Photo: Handout via AFP

The sale came as North Korea is expanding its offensive missile capabilities, having proven over the past two years the ability to launch medium- and long-range ballistic missiles, potentially nuclear-tipped, that could hit both Japan and the United States.

This month Pyongyang has carried out seven tests of new short-range ballistic missiles, at least one of which flew far enough to reach Japan.

The Pentagon also approved new arms sales to Hungary, South Korea, Lithuania and Denmark, worth together another US$943 million.