Japan and the United States plan to develop interceptors to shoot down hypersonic missiles by 2030, under a contract signed by the two countries on Wednesday.
The plan, which will reportedly cost more than $3 billion, was first announced in August when the leaders of the two countries met at Camp David, outside Washington.
“In recent years, missile-related technologies such as hypersonic weapons have improved dramatically across Japan,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement on the agreement to jointly develop the so-called Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI).
“Strengthening interception capabilities against them is an urgent matter.”
The Japanese government has already included 75 billion yen ($480 million) in its 2024 budget for the development of the interceptors.
Hypersonic missiles fly at more than five times the speed of sound and have irregular trajectories, making them difficult to intercept.
The 75 billion yen are part of a record 7.95 trillion yen defense budget approved last year as tensions with China and North Korea rise.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has pledged to double defense spending to NATO’s target of 2% of GDP by 2027.
Japan has a pacifist post-war constitution, which limits its military capacity to ostensibly defensive measures.
However, in 2022, the main security and defense policy was updated, explicitly outlining the challenge from China.
