Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki insisted the spectacular US failure was unrelated to the US-Japan plans.

"The Japanese government is not in a position to comment on this matter, but America's international missile defense is not directly linked to BMD (ballistic missile defence) which we have been studying," he told a news conference.

"My understanding is that the test result does not affect the BMD program," he said.

Analysts, however, said the US failure would likely delay, and possibly undermine, the US-Japan plans.

In the US test Tuesday, an interceptor missile failed to hit a dummy warhead released by a modified Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile some 200 kilometers (120 miles) above the earth.

The US system was intended to protect all 50 US states against a limited ballistic missile attack by a so-called rogue state, but the technical failure added ammunition to its opponents.

Japan and the United States are meanwhile engaged in joint ballistic missile defence research expected to cost 50-60 billion yen (435-522 million dollars) over five to six years, with Japan paying 20-30 billion yen.

The United States refers to the planned US-Japan system as Theater-wide Missile Defence.

Tadashi Kumagai, military analyst and former military professor at National Defense Academy, said the US failure "will not seriously affect Japan's missile defense program but will certainly delay its progress.

"What separates the US missile defense system from ours is that Japan's missile defense involves shorter-ranged missiles given its close proximity of North Korea and China," he added.

"The United States needs longer-range missiles to protect the country from incoming missiles."

The planned US-Japan system was expected to provide the Japanese navy with extended protection against missile attack.

Tokyo's decision to join the costly research program followed its shock at a North Korean medium-range missile test in August 1998 which flew over Japanese territory.

"Japan was very reluctant to go for the missile defense system given its enormous cost and technological uncertainty," said Yasuhiko Yoshida, professor of international relations at Saitama University.

"But everything changed because of North Korea's firing of a Taepodong missile."

The US test failure, while not directly related, "demonstrated how technologically immature the system is and how costly it can be in the future," he added.

"It also raised doubts over whether the system itself is really working to protect national security."

Yoshida said the US test failure could prod the Japanese government to improve relations with the regime in North Korea "rather than going ahead blindly with the United States on the missile system."

Japan and North Korea held preparatory talks in Beijing late last month in an attempt to move closer towards establishing full diplomatic relations.

Japan last month lifted all remaining North Korea sanctions, including a food aid ban, imposed after Pyongyang's missile test.

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MILSPACE
Japan To Use US SpySat Technology
Tokyo (AFP) September 24, 1999 - Japan will buy key parts from the United States for its first spy satellites to be built in response to North Korea's missile threat, reports said Friday. The Japanese and US governments have reached a basic agreement on the deal, a compromise between Tokyo's aim for "independent development" of such satellites and Washington's drive to sell US-made craft, the reports said.

Japan MilSpace Issues At SpaceDaily