US and Japan plan fleet of low-orbit satellites to track missiles

More than 1,000 units to detect next-gen Chinese and North Korean weapons

20200818N Earth orbit

A view of the Earth from the International Space Station, which lies in low-Earth orbit. © Getty Images

YUKIO TAJIMA, Nikkei staff writer

TOKYO -- Japan and the U.S. plan to deploy a network of small satellites in low-Earth orbit to detect and track next-generation missiles being developed to evade current defense systems, Nikkei has learned.

The project is expected to cost over $9 billion under a U.S. plan and be operational by the mid-2020s. The two sides will hammer out the details of the arrangement.

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