The Defense Agency has deEcided to develop a new type of radar with improved detecEtion capabilities for monitorEing North Korea's Nodong ballistic missiles by fiscal 2006 as part of its plan to build a missile defense system, agency sources said Sunday.
The agency is planning to request around E5 billion for its fiscal 2006 budget to put toEgether one such radar set, tentatively called the FPS-XX radar, the sources said.
It determined that a radar system capable of detecting ballistic missiles several hunEdred kilometers away from any base in Japan would be necessary to complement plans to introduce a missile defense system starting in 2007, the sources said.
The missile defense system is to also include sea-going vessels equipped with the AeEgis air-defense system and Patriot Advanced CapabiliEty-3 antimissile groups.
Critics are expected to comEplain that the costs for preEparing for the missile defense system, already estimated at around E00 billion over four years starting next year, will increase, while North Korea could also protest against the plan for the new radar.
But the agency wants to make budgetary requests for one new radar set per fiscal year starting in fiscal 2006, and begin deployment in fisEcal 2008 so that there will be four in place, mainly at Air Self-Defense Force radar sites facing the Sea of Japan, by fiscal 2011, the sources said.
The new radar will use elecEtronic scanning to control the orientation of electromagnetEic waves and is expected to be able to have a strong capacity to detect ballistic missiles, according to the sources.
In addition to the new raEdar, the agency plans to upEgrade seven existing radar sets to build an 11-site netEwork, the sources said.