DATE=7/27/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=JAPAN MISSILE DEFENSE (L)
NUMBER=2-252180
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=TOKYO
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: U-S officials say Tokyo and Washington are 
moving a step closer to building a missile defense 
system to protect Japan.  The two nations have been 
doing research on missile defenses for some time, and 
are now crafting an agreement to focus that research 
at sea and do some testing of a promising system. The 
development comes as the two nations are expressing 
fears that North Korea might fire another rocket 
across Japan.  Jim Randle reports from Tokyo.  

TEXT:  One idea is to upgrade the air defense system 
on ships to handle the far more difficult task of 
shooting down fast moving missile warheads.  The 
current U-S Navy Aegis system uses powerful radars to 
sense targets, advanced computers to keep track of 
them and a fast moving missile to shoot them down.
 
Defense experts say shooting down a missile warhead is 
essentially hitting a bullet with another bullet.  To 
do that, every element of the current system will have 
to be made more powerful and faster.  

Japan already has some advanced ships equipped with 
the Aegis air defense system that could be the 
starting point for a missile defense system.  A senior 
defense official says Japan's island geography might 
also make a shipboard system a logical choice for 
Tokyo.

U-S officials say the two nations have been doing some 
studies of missile defenses and are trying to pick the 
most promising path for research.  They say a formal 
agreement is under discussion and that would commit 
more money to the project and result in a limited 
amount of testing over the next two years.

The deal covers legal and technical details, including 
limits on transferring the technology to other 
nations, and the financial responsibilities of each 
side.  Officials say the agreement is nearly finished, 
but will  not  be signed during U-S Defense Secretary 
William Cohen's current visit to Japan.

The talks come as North Korea may be getting ready for 
another ballistic missile test.  

Pyongyang fired a rocket last year that roared across 
Japan and far out into the Pacific.  North Korea said 
it was launching a satellite designed to play 
revolutionary hymns into the cosmos.  But no satellite 
was ever detected by space-tracking radars, and many 
Western defense experts said it was actually a weapons 
test. 

U-S intelligence officials said a few weeks ago that 
work at a North Korean launch pad meant Pyongyang 
could launch a new rocket in a matter of weeks or 
months.(Signed)

Neb/jr/plm



27-Jul-1999 00:02 AM LOC (27-Jul-1999 0402 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.