Japan and the US set to strike a deal to develop an interceptor missile to counter hypersonic warheads made by China, Russia and North Korea

• President Joe Biden will meet Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida on Friday 

Japan and the US will this week agree to develop an interceptor missile to counter hypersonic warheads made by China, Russia and North Korea, it was claimed yesterday.

The agreement to target weapons designed to evade ballistic missile defences is expected when President Joe Biden meets Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in the US on Friday. 

The report, published in Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper, gave no source for the information, and officials at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not be reached for comment last night.

Unlike typical ballistic warheads which fly on predictable trajectories, hypersonic projectiles can change course – making them more difficult to target. 

U.S. President Joe Biden and Fumio Kishida, Japan’s prime minister, shake hands prior to a bilateral meeting ahead of the Group of Seven leaders summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on Thursday May 18

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US President Joe Biden pose for a group photo at the Itsukushima Shrine during the G7 Summit on  May 19

Mr Biden and Mr Kishida are due to meet during a trilateral summit with South Korea’s president Yoon Suk Yeol at Camp David, Maryland, the report said.

The US and Japan agreed in January to consider developing the interceptor at a meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin with their Japanese counterparts. 

A deal would be the second such collaboration in missile defence technology after Washington and Tokyo developed a longer-range missile designed to hit warheads in space. 

Japan is deploying the missile on warships in the sea between it and the Korean peninsula to defend against any North Korean strikes.

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