Japan to test missile defense in Tokyo
Japan is to test the deployment of high-tech PAC-3 missile interceptors next month at about 10 locations in Tokyo, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported yesterday.
Japan's first Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors were deployed in March at Iruma Air Base in Saitama, north of Tokyo, as part of a shield introduced in response to missile tests by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
But given their limited range, the interceptors would need to be moved closer to the political and financial hub of Tokyo to provide optimal protection if a ballistic missile attack was believed likely.
The exercises next month will determine where the best locations for re-deployment would be, with checks to be conducted into the quality of communications and whether there are any obstacles such as skyscrapers in the areas, the Yomiuri said, quoting sources.
PAC-3 equipment will be moved from Iruma to test locations including a national garden in Shinjuku, central Tokyo, and a military camp next to the Defense Ministry.
The ministry plans to hold similar exercises in other parts of the country from the fiscal year starting next April, the Yomiuri added.
The deployment of PAC-3 interceptors, meant to shoot down incoming missiles in the final phase of their flight, was first sparked by Pyongyang's firing of a ballistic missile in 1998 that flew over Japan.
The Patriot surface-to-air missiles would be used as a last resort if interceptors fired from US or Japanese ships fail to knock out incoming missiles.
Japan will begin introducing Standard Missile-3 interceptors on its destroyers over the next few years as part of that effort.
Japan also plans to test its first ship-based anti-ballistic missile interceptors off Hawaii in a joint exercise with the United States next month.
Agencies
(China Daily 11/26/2007 page6)
