Space Travel News  
Japan to boost air defences: report

Currently Japan relies upon a Patriot missile defense system, supplemented by a growing Aegis naval capability.
by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) Jan 27, 2008
Japan is to boost its defences against cruise missiles as China increases its air strike capabilities, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Sunday.

The defence ministry plans to increase the number of aircraft equipped with airborne warning and control systems and install state-of-the-art radar to allow early detection of precision-guided missiles heading for Japan, the daily said.

It is also considering developing an advanced long-range surface-to-air missile, the report said, citing senior defence ministry sources.

The government has so far mainly focused on developing a ballistic missile defence system, primarily in response to a perceived threat from North Korea.

Meanwhile, China has equipped its fighter jets and submarines with domestically developed cruise missiles, which have a range in excess of 1,000 kilometers (625 miles), the newspaper said.

Beijing is also believed to have started developing advanced precision-guided missiles with a range of about 3,000 kilometers -- similar to that of the US military's Tomahawk cruise missile, it said.

Chinese fighter jets repeatedly approached Japan last year, coming close enough to launch a cruise missile before returning to Chinese air space, the newspaper said.

"We believe these acts were unlikely to be part of information-gathering exercises, but rather drills to prepare for a possible cruise missile attack on Japan," a senior Japanese defence official told the Yomiuri.

Related Links
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Olmert Backs Iron Dome Of Layered Missile Defense For Israel
Washington (UPI) Jan 25, 2008
Olmert's government a year ago "decided to invest in the development of a multi-layered defensive system to protect Israel's skies from various types of conventional and non-conventional missiles that are liable to strike at population centers," the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or MFA, said in a statement Tuesday. Romania's pro-Western government wants U.S. ballistic missile defense systems in Europe to cover it and neighboring Bulgaria,. But it wants Russia included as a partner in the program too.







  • Virgin's Branson presents new space ship
  • Rocket And Missile Chaos Besets Russia
  • Ion engine to propel spacecraft to Mercury
  • Space tourism firm fined for deaths

  • Russian space center to launch boosters
  • Antrix Launches Israeli Satellite Using Commercial PSLV Rocket
  • Russia To Launch Two Telecom Satellites On Jan 28 And Feb 10
  • Thuraya-3 Satellite Successfully Launched To Orbit

  • NASA to televise Columbia remembrance
  • Shuttle Tank Connector Repairs Stretch Boundaries
  • NASA resets Atlantis shuttle launch to February 7
  • US shuttle glitches may delay Hubble mission

  • Upcoming Spacewalk, New Progress Awaits Expedition 16
  • Japanese astronaut to throw boomerang in space
  • Follow The Launch Of ESA's Columbus Space Laboratory Live
  • SPACEHAB And NASA Cooperating On Space Act Agreement For Use Of Space Station To Process Microgravity Products

  • SKorea research institute forges ties with NASA: official
  • Russia Eyes Replacement Spaceport For Baikonur
  • NASA astronauts report good communications
  • Celebration To Unveil SpaceshipTwo And WhiteKnightTwo Models

  • China May Broadcast First Taikonaut Spacewalk Live
  • Chinese Taikonaut Dismisses Environment Worries About New Space Launch Center
  • China To Boost Civil Industrialization With Xian Base
  • China Set To Launch Manned Space Mission In 2008

  • Meet Blob The Robot
  • Russian Fuel Flows Into Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle
  • ESA Training Team ATV
  • Honda's ASIMO robot gets smarter

  • Lyell Panorama Inside Victoria Crater Mars Four Years On Mars
  • Traces Of The Martian Past In The Terby Crater
  • HiRISE Camera Details Dynamic Wind Action On Mars
  • Ice Clouds Put Mars In The Shade

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement