On the Radar

A second forward-based AN/TPY-2 radar will be positioned at a base in central Japan within the next year to bolster defenses against the ballistic missile threat posed by North Korea, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced today.

The second radar will deploy to Kyoga-Misaki, a Japanese base situated in the Kyoto prefecture, a senior administration official confirmed during a Defense Department background briefing today prior to a joint press conference held in Tokyo with Japan's foreign and defense ministers, Hagel and Secretary of State John Kerry.

“This additional radar will bolster our ability to defend the U.S. homeland and in Japan against North Korean ballistic missiles, and it enhances an important 21st century alliance capability,” Hagel said during the press conference.

While Japan already hosts one AN/TPY-2 radar in Shariki -- which is providing “extensive coverage” -- the second radar will fill in “gaps of existing coverage,” the senior administration official noted.

The administration official would not elaborate on the exact time frame for deployment of the radar to Japan, but said “our goal is in the next year or so to have the radar operational.”

The Defense Department announced on March 15 that it would deploy a second AN/TPY-2 radar to Japan, but did not reveal where it would be positioned.

The Army has five forward-based AN/TPY-2 radars that are operational. Four are being used in Northern Japan, Israel, Turkey and within the U.S. Central Command area of operation and one that is used for testing.

Inside the Army reported earlier this year that deploying the fifth radar to Japan would leave the United States without a radar to use in testing. The Missile Defense Agency was considering options to work around the shortage such as borrowing radars from Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system batteries to conduct tests.