Japan and the United States signed a final agreement here on
Friday to join hands on developing a next-generation ballistic
missile defense system, a local media report said.
According to the pact, signed by Japanese Foreign Minister
TaroAso and US Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer, the two sides
will start the joint development in the current fiscal year,
KyodoNews said.
Based on an annexed document, the United States will be in
charge of the development of kinetic warhead, while Japan will be
responsible for that of the nose cone and rocket motor, and the two
sides will jointly take on the work of system design and
test-firing, it added.
The annexed document also stipulates that over the next nine
years, Japan shoulders a half of the development cost, which is
expected to top US$ 2.7 billion, the Kyodo News said.
Japan decided to take part in the cooperation with the United
States on missile defense in 1998.
In order to facilitate the joint efforts on the missile shield
when it was about to enter the development and production stages at
the end of 2004, Japan announced that arms exports related to the
project would be exempted from Japan's weapons export ban, or the
"three principles on arms exports," so as to enable the sale of
missile defense components to the United States.
Japanese Cabinet decided in December 2005 to promote the
research on the missile defense system to "joint development"
phase.
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(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2006)
