U.S., Japan to ink billion missile defense deal

Published: Apr 19, 2006
Source: today.reuters.com



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Japan are about to sign a milestone $2 billion co-development pact for an advanced sea-based missile designed to shoot down ballistic missiles in a wider swath of their flight paths, a senior Pentagon official said on Tuesday.

Under an agreement to be inked by the end of May, the two countries will develop, test and produce an enhanced version of the Standard Missile-3 interceptor, or SM-3, to be ready by 2014, said David Altwegg, operations director of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency.

"I can't emphasize how big a deal this is," he said in an interview with Reuters. "It further cements the very close relationship we have with our Japanese ally."

Raytheon Co. (RTN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) builds the existing SM-3 missile. It is integrated with Lockheed Martin Corp.'s (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Aegis ballistic missile defense system, currently to protect against short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles.continue..