The Japanese government is currently considering to build the ship with the Aegis system (Aegis BL9, called J7 in Japan) and radar (SPY-7), initially contracted for Aegis Ashore. The ships are called “Aegis System-equipped ships” rather than “Aegis destroyers” because they are expected to be equipped with ground-based systems and have an unconventional hull structure.
However, according to the Ministry of Defense (MoD), the cost of building this ship is unknown. This is because the cost of retrofitting the Aegis system and SPY-7 for at-sea use, as well as the final performance requirements of the ship, have yet to be determined. For this reason, the Cabinet decision to build the Aegis System-equipped ships announced in December last year clearly stated that the type of every system to be installed would be studied in the future, and did not specify the exact system name...MORE
