Japan, U.S. Producing Hypersonic Missile Interceptor

Japan and the US will jointly develop a new type of missile to intercept hypersonic projectiles being developed by North Korea, China, and Russia, sources told Kyodo News.

Photo Insert: It will be the two nations' second joint development of an interceptor missile following the Standard Missile-3 Block 2A, the successor to SM-3 Block 1A developed solely by the US.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US President Joe Biden are expected to agree on the plan during their bilateral talks at the Camp David retreat near Washington on Friday, according to the sources.

It will be the two nations' second joint development of an interceptor missile following the Standard Missile-3 Block 2A, the successor to SM-3 Block 1A developed solely by the US.

Japan and the US are aiming to beef up their alliance's deterrence capabilities in response to Pyongyang's repeated ballistic missile tests and rapid advance of its missile technologies, and Beijing's intensifying military activities in the Indo-Pacific region including joint exercises with Moscow.

Hypersonic missiles, which travel at a top speed of over Mach 5, five times the speed of sound, are hard to shoot down and track by radar.

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