Allies and Partners invest in, collaborate on missile defense systems

FORUM Staff

Expanding nuclear and nonnuclear missile arsenals across the Indo-Pacific contribute to security dilemmas throughout the region. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) relies on growing capabilities — including intercontinental and inter-regional ballistic missiles along with medium- and short-range ballistic weapons — to assert expansive sovereignty claims.

Meanwhile, a provocative North Korea persists with its United Nations-banned weapons programs, demonstrating an intention to bolster nuclear delivery capability, according to the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), while developing missiles capable of reaching the U.S. and its allies Japan and South Korea.

Missile defense capabilities are key to denying attacks or coercion from adversaries, Gen. Anthony Cotton, the USSTRATCOM commander, told the U.S. Senate Armed Forces Committee in 2023.

The proliferation of missile technology demands a continued investment in systems integration and collaboration with Allies and Partners, he said.

U.S. military assets in the Indo-Pacific are protected by missile defense systems such as Patriot surface-to-air batteries, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Aegis, which use radar and satellite systems to track threats and destroy missiles or rockets midflight.

Taiwan, which saw the PRC fire ballistic missiles over its main island in 2022, is upgrading a dozen missile launch sites for its Sky Bow III surface-to-air missile. The weapon targets aircraft as well as cruise and short-range ballistic missiles. Taipei deploys the Sky Bow system with its Patriot systems to form the backbone of the island’s low-altitude air defense, according to the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, Taipei’s main weapons manufacturer.

The Republic of Korea (ROK) military operates THAAD and Patriot missile defense systems and continues to develop and deploy capabilities that make up the Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) architecture. The multilayered KAMD incorporates interceptors of varying ranges and altitudes with radar and operations control. Seoul is also accelerating development of a system modeled on Israel’s Iron Dome to detect, track and destroy North Korean rockets, The Japan News newspaper reported.

Japan, the ROK and the U.S. activated a system in December 2023 to detect and evaluate missile launches in real-time. The countries also established a plan for multiyear military drills to enhance their response to increasing missile threats, officials said.

Tokyo’s two-tier ballistic missile defense uses interceptors launched from Aegis-equipped vessels to destroy projectiles outside the atmosphere and Patriot missiles to target threats after reentry. Japan plans to introduce an upgraded interceptor by 2027 that complements the Patriot systems and can head off ballistic and harder-to-target hypersonic glide weapons, the Nikkei Asia magazine reported.

Meanwhile, Japan and the U.S. have agreed to develop a counter-hypersonic system to intercept such weapons before their high-speed descent.

After Australia’s 2023 Defence Strategic Review called for an integrated air and missile defense system, Canberra awarded a $487 million contract to U.S. firm Lockheed Martin for the first phase of a Joint Air Battle Management System. The missile shield project will “connect all platforms and sensors across all warfighting domains into a single interface that can track threats, coordinate a joint response, and direct that response onto the target,” Australian Defence Magazine reported. “It is ‘all sensor, best shooter’ writ large.”

Elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, India is expanding ballistic missile defense with radar tracking and enhanced capabilities, according to news reports.

In Guam, the U.S. is planning a “persistent, 360-degree missile defense system” to provide layered defense against cruise, ballistic and hypersonic attacks, according to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

Collaboration with Allies and Partners remains a priority, the U.S. said in its 2022 Missile Defense Review, pledging to integrate and work with like-minded nations, as well as encourage cooperation and information sharing among foreign partners.