Japan: Government orders army to shoot down North Korean missiles
What if war in the East did not break out between China and Taiwan, but between Japan and North Korea? Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada ordered the Self-Defense Forces, the Japanese military, on Saturday to stand ready to shoot down a North Korean spy rocket or satellite in case it looked likely to fall on Japanese territory.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the launch of the country's first military spy satellite last week, without providing a timeline, state media reported. The sudden launch would have been requested by the President himself.
Hamada has ordered the SDF (Self Defense Force) to make the necessary preparations in view of a possible "order to destroy ballistic missiles" or other objects, the Japanese Defense Ministry said in a statement. The order can be carried out with the approval of the prime minister.
To "limit damage, should a ballistic missile or other object" fall on Japanese territory, preparations include sending Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) land-based missile defense batteries to parts of Okinawa Prefecture as well as the deployment of Aegis destroyers of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, equipped with SM-3 interceptors, in the waters around Japan.
No country has ever attempted to shoot down a North Korean rocket or ballistic missile, despite Pyongyang's history of provocative launches, including the last time it dropped weapons on Japan in October. The MoD said it did not take steps to destroy the missile as it believed it would not land on Japanese territory.
Japan possesses, or uses through its alliance with the United States, a wide range of space, marine and land-based radars and other sensors capable of rapidly detecting and determining the general trajectory of most North Korean missile launches. Its SM-3-equipped Aegis destroyers are designed to shoot down ballistic missiles in the early stages of flight, while PAC-3 systems – which have an effective range of 30 kilometers – are used to intercept missiles evading the stratum. SM-3 and are considered the last line of defense.
Japanese destroyer AEGIS Kongo
According to observers, an attempt to shoot down a North Korean missile or rocket carrying a satellite could open the possibility of an escalation. Such an attempt would also potentially reveal Japan's strength, displaying Tokyo's detection and interception capabilities to keen observers in Pyongyang.
Apart from the obvious issue of damage, if an interceptor were to miss, it would call into question these capabilities, fueling the concern not only of Tokyo, but also of Washington and its allies and partners, who have production defense systems such as the SM-3 and PAC-3.
Nuclear-armed North Korea has launched a variety of missiles this year, a heterogeneous mix that includes powerful ICBMs and short-range weapons capable of evading defence. The last time the country launched a satellite was in February 2016; Japan labeled it a thinly veiled test of ICBM technology and ordered Aegis destroyers and PAC-3 units to shoot it down in case projections showed components falling into Japanese territory.
In a possible sign of Pyongyang's reaction in the event of an interception attempt, Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader's sister, warned in March that any move by the United States or others to shoot down one of its "strategic weapons" over the waters international agreements would have been regarded as “a clear declaration of war”. A war that no one felt the need for.
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The article Japan: the government orders the army to shoot down North Korean missiles comes from Scenarios Economics .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/giappone-il-governo-ordina-allesercito-di-abbattere-i-missili-nord-coreani/ on Sat, 22 Apr 2023 14:07:15 +0000.