Japan defense chief apologizes for flawed aegis data

June 17, 2019

Akita--Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya visited the Akita prefectural government Monday to apologize for using flawed data to explain that a site in the northeastern Japan prefecture is suited for the deployment of the Aegis Ashore land-based missile defense system.

Meeting with Akita Governor Norihisa Satake and Koichi Kato, chairman of the Akita prefectural assembly, Iwaya said, "I'm truly sorry."

"The ministry will go back to the basics and work on the project with sincerity in order to regain the trust" of people in Akita, the Defense chief also said.

He then indicated a plan to conduct a detailed field research to find out whether it would be possible to deploy the Aegis Ashore system in state-owned land plots other than the current candidate site at the Ground Self-Defense Force's Araya training area in the city of Akita, the capital of the prefecture.

Satake said, "I'm rather very sad than disappointed."

"The Defense Ministry should go back to the start line and consider" where to deploy the missile defense system, the governor said. "Without that, we cannot enter into discussion."

Iwaya's visit to Akita came after local people were angered by the discovery on June 5 of errors in the Defense Ministry's survey data of candidate sites for the Aegis Ashore deployment and inappropriate behavior by a ministry official who fell asleep during a meeting held in the city of Akita to explain the survey errors.

The data, presented to Akita Prefecture on May 27, included mistakes in nine candidate locations, all state-owned land plots, for installing Aegis Ashore radar equipment in the prefectures of Aomori, Akita and Yamagata and elevation angles of nearby mountain peaks. The mistakes were caused by the use of satellite map software without adjusting the differing scale reductions of the distance and altitude.

Iwaya also visited the Akita city government to give an apology to Mayor Motomu Hozumi for the use of wrong data.

The ministry has picked the GSDF Araya training area in Akita, as well as the GSDF Mutsumi training area in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, as candidate sites for deploying Aegis Ashore units. Jiji Press