DAR AL HARB - JAPAN: JAPAN HAS INSTALLED THE MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM EARLIER THAN PLANNED, WE DO LIVE IN INTERESTING TIMES

Japan deploys own ballistic missile defences

TOKYO - Japan on Friday deployed its first ballistic missile defence system managed by its own military amid concerns over North Korea, which tested missiles and an atom bomb last year.

The United States last year installed Japan’s first anti-missile system, but the interceptors deployed Friday were the first installed by Japan on its own.

Two Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) surface-to-air interceptors were installed early Friday at Japan’s Iruma air force base north of Tokyo, a defence ministry spokesman said.

The ministry plans to deploy the US-developed PAC-3s, which can cover a 20-kilometre (12-mile) radius, at a total of 11 bases in eastern and western Japan by March 2011.

The ministry deployed the launchers, designed to protect the capital Tokyo, earlier than initially scheduled in response to North Korea’s launch of missiles in July and its nuclear test in October.

‘We had initially planned to complete the deployment by March next year, but we accelerated the plan following North Korea’s missile launch,’ the spokesman said.

It was Japan’s first deployment of a ballistic missile interceptor since the nation became officially pacifist following its defeat in World War II.

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