Defense policymakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Wednesday threw their support behind a tentative government plan to build new Aegis ships as platforms for missile interceptor systems that were previously set to be land-based.

In the closed-door discussion, the LDP lawmakers concluded that "if we compare all plans, there are no other options than building Aegis ships," said Taku Otsuka, the head of the team of policymakers, after the meeting.

The government has been seeking three offshore alternative options after its decision earlier this year to scrap its plan to deploy the U.S.-developed Aegis Ashore system in northeastern and western Japan.