The Japanese Ministry of Defense has formally awarded a local shipbuilding company 700 million yen ($4.7 million) to develop the country’s second Aegis System Equipped Vessel (ASEV).
The defense ministry signed a contract with Japan Marine United Corporation (JMUC) last week after awarding a 1.7-billion-yen ($11.5 million) contract to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) on August 23 to build the first ASEV.
Tokyo requested the Aegis vessels in its 2023 budget as a deterrent to North Korea’s ballistic missile threats and as an alternative to the canceled land-based Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense system.
The first ASEV is expected from MHI by 2027 and will be commissioned by March 2028.
Meanwhile, the second vessel is anticipated from JMUC by 2028, with commissioning scheduled for March 2029.
ASEV Size
The vessel’s originally large design faced criticism in terms of cost and maneuverability, which led the ministry to consider downsizing it without affecting its air defense capabilities.
Its latest version is 190 meters (623 feet) long and 25 meters (82 feet) wide with a standard displacement of 12,000 tons.
The ASEV is bigger than the JMSDF’s Aegis Maya-class, which is 170 meters (557 feet) long, 21 meters (69 feet) wide, and has a standard displacement of 8,200 tons.
Radar Tracking and Missile Defense Capabilities
It will be equipped with Lockheed Martin’s SPY-7, which successfully demonstrated its first live track on April 4 this year.
According to the Japanese defense ministry, the SPY-7 has five times the tracking capability of the SPY-1 and can deal with missiles launched on lofted trajectories and multiple ballistic missiles fired simultaneously.
The new ASEV will also feature 128 Vertical Launch System cells and will be further developed to increase defense capabilities against hypersonic glide vehicles.