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Japan to build advanced missile system for jets

Japan's Defense Agency plans to develop a new missile system for its fighter jets that would be able to target aircraft and ships without emitting radio waves that could be detected by an enemy, an agency spokesman said yesterday.

The Defense Agency will begin three years of research starting next year to develop the new system, spokesman Hirokazu Shirota said.

Existing weapon systems such as those installed on F-15 fighter jets emit radio waves at targets and then monitor the way in which they are reflected back, but enemy forces can also monitor such waves and detect their source, Shirota said.

The new system would not emit radio waves itself, but would use a receiver that can pick up a wide range of radio frequencies and deduce which ones are being emitted from a potential target, he said.

The Defense Agency plans to add ?1.8 billion (US$15.4 million) for research to its budget request for the 2007 fiscal year to pay for the system, he said.
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