US deploys mobile missile-tracking system in Japan
13 Oct 2007
This is the second such unit deployed by the United States in the region, after South Korea, according to Japanese defence ministry officials.
The system is itself operated by US service personnel from an army base in the US State of Colorado, and consists of a vehicle equipped with three satellite antennas and information-processing equipment. The system is meant to send news of any incoming missile to the US military and Japanese defence ministry officials.
The deployment comes after Tokyo and Washington launched work on a missile defence shield for Japan after North Korea shocked the region in 1998 by firing a long-range missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean. Work on the missile defence shield continues apace despite ongoing negotiations with North Korea aimed at halting its nuclear drive in return for aid and other benefits.
Japan
has already installed Patriot surface-to-air missile interceptors in the Tokyo
area early on in the year. The system was also installed last year on the southern
Japanese island of Okinawa, which is the military hub for 40,000 US troops based
in Japan.