Tokyo's decision last year to deploy an expensive U.S.-developed defense system against North Korea's ballistic missiles has triggered a heated race between the defense industries of Japan and the United States to get the most out of the 1 trillion yen project.
Last week, major U.S. defense firms Lockheed Martin Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp., Raytheon Co., Boeing Co. and Computer Sciences Corp. showcased their missile defense products at the Parliamentary Museum in Tokyo, where Japanese and U.S. defense policymakers, industry figures and politicians gathered for a two-day security symposium.
Lockheed Martin, the largest U.S. defense contractor, set up a full-scale replica of the PAC-3 interceptor missile Japan will deploy for the ground-based portion of the system.