Japan to speed up process of deploying U.S. Aegis Ashore missile defense system

Almaty. December 8. Silkroadnews - The government of Japan can speed up the process of deploying the U.S. Aegis Ashore missile defense system on its territory due to the North Korean threat, the Tajik Telegraph Agency (TajikTA) reports with reference to TASS.
Initially the government of Japan planned to deploy the ground systems in the territory of two prefectures by 2023, yet the process could be carried out within the shorter terms. The government also decided to allocate 2.1 billion yen ($18 million) out of the supplementary budget for the current fiscal year (to be completed on March 31, 2018 - note by TASS), to be allocated for the acquisition of the U.S. missile defense systems. Initially, the allocation of funds was to start in 2018 fiscal year, but the Japanese authorities are speeding up the process amid the situation on the Korean peninsula getting tougher.
The additional budget for the current financial year is planned for consideration and approval on December 22.
At present, Japan has a two-tiered missile defense system. Equipped with Aegis systems, the ships are armed with SM-3 missiles capable of intercepting ballistic missiles in the mid-course of flight, and Patriot PAC-3 to intercept the missile at the final stage of its flight. The range of the system does not exceed several tens of kilometers.
According to the experts, two Aegis Ashore units, allocated in the prefectures of Akita and Yamaguchi from the side of the Sea of Japan, costing around 80 billion yen (about $728 million) each, are sufficient to protect the entire territory of Japan from a possible missile attack or a ballistic missile.