Japan is deploying a new generation of spy satellites to monitor North Korea’s arsenal of missiles in a move that also counters potential threats from China and Russia.
A series of launches are under way to improve Japan’s surveillance from space with a range of improved satellites. It also plans to speed up the collection and analysis of the images and data they produce.
The issue of deployment of spy satellites is a sensitive one in a country with a pacifist constitution and laws that prohibit the aggressive militarisation of space, but the continuing threat posed by an unpredictable and nuclear-armed North Korea and the growing military might of China have become increasingly urgent issues of national security.
The new generation of satellites is also