U.S., Japan to Develop Hypersonic Missile Interceptor – Yomiuri

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan and the U.S. will agree this week to collectively develop an interceptor missile to counter hypersonic warheads being developed by China, Russia and North Korea, Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper mentioned on Sunday.

The settlement on interceptors to focus on weapons designed to evade present ballistic missile defences is predicted when President Joe Biden meets Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida within the U.S. on Friday, the report mentioned, with out giving any supply for the knowledge.

Officers at Japan’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs couldn’t be reached for remark exterior enterprise hours.

In contrast to typical ballistic warheads, which fly on predictable trajectories as they fall from area to their targets, hypersonic projectiles can change course, making them tougher to focus on.

Biden and Kishida are to satisfy the sidelines of a trilateral summit with South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol on the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, the Yomiuri mentioned.

The U.S. and Japan agreed in January to contemplate growing the interceptor at a gathering of Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin with their Japanese counterparts, Overseas Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Protection Minister Yasukazu Hamada.

An settlement could be the second such collaboration in missile defence know-how.

Washington and Tokyo developed a longer-range missile designed to hit warheads in area, which Japan is deploying on warships within the sea between Japan and the Korean peninsula to protect towards North Korean missiles strikes.

(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Enhancing by William Mallard)

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