Japan sets up missile defence shield near Tokyo

Iruma (Japan), Mar 30: Japan trucked its first ballistic missile interceptors to an air force base at Iruma, north of Tokyo, today in an effort to beef up its defences against its unpredictable neighbour North Korea.

The deployment of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) equipment, capable of shooting down incoming missiles in the final stage of flight as they near their target, was sparked by Pyongyang's firing of a ballistic missile in 1998 that flew over Japan.

But Tokyo rushed the equipment into service a year ahead of schedule after North Korea unnerved the region last year by firing more missiles and testing a nuclear device.

''We consider it very meaningful to deploy the air defence missiles close to metropolitan Tokyo, which is the centre of business and political activities,'' Kazumasa Echizen, the air base public information chief, said in a statement. ''We will continue our efforts to be ready for any possible emergencies.'' About 50 demonstrators shouted and waved banners as a line of green trucks carried the equipment through the gates of the base, about 40 km from central Tokyo.

The relatively short range of PAC-3 interceptors -- about 20 km -- means they are likely to be deployed closer to the centre of the capital to protect financial and government hubs if a missile attack is believed to be imminent.

The United States has already deployed its own PAC-3s at a base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, and has also deployed ship-based Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) missile interceptors at Yokosuka, west of Tokyo.

Today's deployment was the first by the Japanese government, which has been pushed into a tighter defence relationship with the United States as regional tensions rise.

Tokyo plans to equip one of its own warships with SM-3 interceptors, intended to shoot down ballistic missiles in the mid-phase of flight, when they are outside the the earth's atmosphere, by the end of this year.

It will attempt to bring down a dummy missile using its own ship-based SM-3 interceptors in a test later this year, Lt.

General Henry Obering, director of the US Missile Defense Agency, told the House Armed Services Committee this week.

Reuters