JAPAN ROLLS OUT MISSILE SHIELD PLAN

[MKSheppard]

JAPAN ROLLS OUT MISSILE SHIELD PLAN

Hours after North Korea reportedly threatened to test a nuclear bomb, the Japanese Defense Ministry asked Parliament to spend $1 billion a year through 2007 to build an American-designed missile shield to defend the main cities of the Japanese archipelago.

Under the plan, elaborated and accelerated in recent weeks, Japan would spend $1.2 billion next year, nearly 10 times the amount spent on missile defense over the last five years.

"Given recent behavior, we cannot discount the possibility that North Korea's nuclear weapons program is already quite advanced," the Defense Ministry wrote in a White Paper prepared before reports Thursday from talks in Beijing that North Korea had threatened to test a nuclear bomb.

Noting that North Korea has 600 to 750 ballistic missiles capable of reaching Japan, the document continued: "We must monitor the military standoff on the Korean Peninsula and the development, deployment and spread of ballistic missiles."

In a two-tier shield, Japan would deploy SM-3 missiles that would be launched from its four Aegis guided-missile destroyers, ships that could be stationed in a picket line close to North Korea's shore. As backups, batteries of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles would be stationed on land.

"This is Japan's revolution in military affairs," Lance Gatling, an American aerospace consultant here, said in an interview about the spending plan. "Guess what? The Russians are not going to invade. So the Japanese are spending less money on defending against a massive, conventional invasion and are going to spend more money on missile defense and intelligence."

With the new blueprint, Japan - the world's fourth-biggest military spender, after the United States, Russia and China - realigns portions of its $42 billion defense budget to parry the new threat from North Korea.

"There has been a sea change, a dramatic turnaround," said Hideaki Kase, a conservative author. "Finally, we are taking North Korea seriously as a threat for the first time."

To track down, capture and analyze spy boats, the Japan Coast Guard is to get $85 million. Nearly two years ago, the coast guard sank a North Korean spy boat that appeared to be returning from a drug run to Japan. Salvaged from the bottom of the East China Sea, the boat is on display at a maritime museum near Tokyo, drawings as many as 7,000 visitors on weekends.

To deal with guerrilla attacks, Japan's military is seeking $240 million. North Korea has 100,000 special forces soldiers, said to be the world's largest such unit.

"Japanese people are very nervous about security of their 53 nuclear power plants," said Toshiyuki Shikata, retired commander of Japan's Northern Army, soldiers based on the northern island of Hokkaido. "They fear North Korean units would try to infiltrate Japanese territory to sabotage nuclear power plants on the Japan Sea."

To give further mobility to Japanese troops, formally called Self-Defense Forces, the military wants to buy a 13,500-ton destroyer this year, the largest ship in Japan's navy since World War II. This $1 billion ship would carry 11 helicopters. Aware that its constitution forbids Japan from possessing offensive weapons, Defense Ministry officials stressed to reporters that the deck would not be strong enough to hold vertical takeoff attack jets, like the Harrier.

Finally, the military's wish list, which is likely to be approved by Parliament, includes $1 billion for a GPS "smart" bomb guidance system and $220 million for a Boeing 767 aerial refueling tanker. Currently, Japan's F-15s carry 1950's-era "dumb" bombs and the jets do not have the fuel range to strike North Korean missile launching sites and fly back to Japan.

Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba has said that Japan would not stand idly by if, during a time of crisis, North Korea started fueling and arming its missiles.

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

Will they'll be able to shoot down hundreds of missles, but then again, knowing they're probably just WWII tech shit, I don't many will hit cities.

[Darth Wong]

How much of a missile barrage could NK possibly send? They can't even afford to feed their troops!

[SirNitram]

How much of a missile barrage could NK possibly send? They can't even afford to feed their troops!

...Because they send all the money to weapons to terrorize their neighbours.

[HemlockGrey]

The Russians are not going to invade.

Or so you think!

[EmperorSolo51]

How much of a missile barrage could NK possibly send? They can't even afford to feed their troops!

We don't know how many short range missiles the North Koreans have, But we do know they have been working on producing them ever since the North Koreans tested one when they launched a Missile over Jappan in 1998.

And I think You hvae it backwards. The North Koreans do not have enough money to feed thier general populace as most of the food goes to the Military and families of High ranking Politocal cronies.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

How much of a missile barrage could NK possibly send? They can't even afford to feed their troops!

A rather large one, actually, and one constantly improving in capability. And, bluntly, their troops are the only people they can feed--the food is taken from the peasants who produce it and given to the troops. The DPRK is like a giant army, with the country existing to support it. It once used to be the more developed half of Korea.. And now all of that development has been turned into a giant arsenal. The people sometimes have to even eat each other; but the army is sustained, and that's all that matters to Kim Jong-il.

[Sea Skimmer]

How much of a missile barrage could NK possibly send? They can't even afford to feed their troops!

A couple hundred.

As for Japanese plans, they're going to need far more then 1.2 billion dollars worth of weaponry for this. That will buy about one battalion of Patriots, which would be hard pressed to cover Tokyo. Probably as some point there going to ask and get a production license for PAC-3 and THAAD, which will triple costs overall.

[fgalkin]

The Russians are not going to invade.

Or so you think!

Russia is in no shape to invade anyone.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Sea Skimmer]

Russia is in no shape to invade anyone.

Have a very nice day.

Maybe Georgia... There troops even in there current state would beat anything North Korea can field but they couldn't pay for the logistics material. Russia is in a poor positio nfor an attck anyway, there boarder with the North is only 18.5 miles, it might be kilometers, and they'd be forced down a few narrow paths so the whole attack would be slow and bgged down from day one.

[fgalkin]

Russia is in no shape to invade anyone.

Have a very nice day.

Maybe Georgia... There troops even in there current state would beat anything North Korea can field but they couldn't pay for the logistics material. Russia is in a poor positio nfor an attck anyway, there boarder with the North is only 18.5 miles, it might be kilometers, and they'd be forced down a few narrow paths so the whole attack would be slow and bgged down from day one.

The Chechen rebels were better equipped than the Russian forces fighting them, IIRC. I remember reports of the Chechens downing helicopters with Stinger missiles they got from Afghanistan.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Vympel]

The Chechen rebels were better equipped than the Russian forces fighting them, IIRC

Not really. At the beginning of fighting they had a handful of equipment from the old Soviet armories- their 'conventional' units were quickly wiped out. The primary Chechen weapon remains the AKM, the RPG-7, and now more than ever the old command detoned mine (usually made out of artillery shells).

I remember reports of the Chechens downing helicopters with Stinger missiles they got from Afghanistan.

Even if they did, it's hardly true to say that because of this they were better equipped- not only are those old early-1980s Stinger models obsolete when compared to a current model Russian Igla, but it's not like the Chechens had many helicopters for the Russians to blow out of the sky (if they did, the VVS would've done the job, or the self-propelled AA units).

[Sea Skimmer]

The Chechen rebels were better equipped than the Russian forces fighting them, IIRC. I remember reports of the Chechens downing helicopters with Stinger missiles they got from Afghanistan.

Maybe in terms of individual soldiers equipment, they bought lots of European and American camping gear and both used the same small arms. However there artillery and armor vehicles where wiped out pretty quickly and nothing bigger then an 82mm mortar ever accomplished much. There air defenses depended mostly on heavy machine guns. MANPADS where actually little used.