Japan deploys new missile defence
Ap, Tokyo
Japan began deploying its first advanced Patriot missile defence system yesterday near Tokyo, part of an effort to accelerate missile defence capabilities following North Korea's missile and nuclear tests last year. The instalment comes about a year earlier than originally scheduled. Two PAC-3 launchers, brought in on about 10 military trucks, arrived at the Iruma Self-Defence Force base in Saitama, north of Tokyo, just before dawn. Japan plans to deploy about 30 mobile PAC-3 launchers at 10 military bases across the country through 2010. The Patriots 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.
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