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WORLD> Asia-Pacific
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Japan holds missile shield exercise in Tokyo
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-07-29 15:55 Tokyo and Washington have accelerated a joint missile defense program following North Korea's missile and nuclear tests in 2006. Army officials have said they plan to conduct surveys at about a dozen locations that have been selected in Tokyo to test their viability as possible launch sites. Japan has deployed four PAC-3 missile defense units -- each including several launchers, a radar vehicle and a control station -- around Tokyo, but their range is not far enough to shoot down ballistic missiles targeting the capital area, meaning they must be ready to deploy on short notice. The surface-to-air Patriots would be used as a last defense in case interceptors fired from US or Japanese warships fail to knock out incoming missiles. Japan plans to deploy the PAC-3 defense system at several more bases around the country by March 2011. It will also conduct its first test-firing of the PAC-3 interceptor at White Sands Missile Range in the US state of New Mexico in September. To step up its naval defense capability, Japan also has started installing sea-to-air Standard Missile-3 interceptors on its destroyers. In December, Japan successfully test-fired its first SM-3 from an Aegis radar-equipped destroyer off Hawaii. |
