Amid the ongoing dispute over the Senkaku Islands with a formidable China and growing nuclear-tipped missile deployments by North Korea, Japan is currently collaborating with the US to develop a new hypersonic interceptor that will help the country defend its assets against missiles and other aerial threats. As part of this effort, Japan has earmarked $1 billion for the development of the Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) to effectively counter future sophisticated adversarial military capabilities, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s Global Missiles & Missile Defense Systems Market Forecast 2023-2033 report reveals that Japan is expected to spend approximately $8.9 billion to procure various types of missiles over 2023-2033. Major programs include the procurement of interceptor-category missiles such as the AIM-120C-7, RIM-161D SM-3 Block-2, RIM-66 Standard, RIM-116 RAM Block 2, and RIM-174 Standard ERAM, all of which will be procured from the US.

Vinayak R Kamath, Aerospace and Defense Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Japan has relied on its long-term partner, the US, for various defense equipment in the past. Maintaining this tradition, Japan will continue to engage with the country in the near future to jointly develop next-generation weapons such as the GPI.

“This US-Japan joint-development initiative can be seen as mutually beneficial. As Japan will be benefited by having access to advanced hypersonic technologies that US has already matured over the years. While the US will be able to deploy advanced weaponry to protect its interests in Asia against its main rival China in the vicinity.”