Wednesday evening’s Mainichi wrote that on Tuesday the State Department approved a plan to export Standard Missile-3 Block IIA missiles to Japan and notified Congress of the decision. The paper wrote that this is the first time for the State Department to approve the export of this type of missile to Japan and that the department reportedly stressed the significance of the decision by saying that this will contribute to enhancing the MSDF’s ability. The paper wrote that under the deal, the United States plans to sell four SM-3 Block IIA missiles and Mk-29 missile launchers at an estimated total of $133.3 million. Yomiuri ran a similar report.