TOKYO, March 31 (UPI) -- A Patriot PAC-3 missile system, the first component of Japan's missile shield, was deployed at the Air Self-Defense Force base in Iruma, officials said.
The deployment at Iruma, which defends Tokyo, was advanced by about a year after North Korea test-fired a several ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan last summer, the Japan Times said Saturday.
The ASDF said it plans to introduce 16 antimissile units armed with PAC-3 and PAC-2 missiles throughout the country by 2010. The PAC-2 system is designed to hit incoming aircraft. The PAC-3 is an updated version of PAC-2 with missile interception capability.
About 30 anti-war demonstrators outside the main gate greeted the 10 trailers carrying the mobile anti-ballistic missile system -- including radar and fire-control systems, an information coordination center and two launch platforms -- as they entered the base early Friday morning.
Japan's two-layer defense system uses the Standard Missile-3, designed to hit a target missile at high altitude early in its flight, and the Patriot PAC-3, designed to hit a missile during its descent if it pierces the SM-3 shield.
