Japan to hold drills deploying missile interceptors at US bases

Japan's Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) will hold drills deploying missile interceptors at three US military bases here to prepare for any contingencies stemming from heightened tensions in the Korean Peninsula, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said Friday.


"The drills will contribute to further strengthening the Japan-US alliance," Onodera told a press briefing on the matter.

The Defense Ministry said the exercises will take place at the US Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo and at the Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture in Japan's southwest, next Tuesday.

On Sept. 7, similar drills will be held at the Misawa Air Base in Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan, the ministry also said.

Such drills would mark the first time that exercises deploying missile interceptors have been held at US bases in Japan, the Def Ministry said.

The ministry has already deployed ASDF PAC-3 missile interceptors in parts of western Japan.

PAC-3 surface-to-air missile defense systems are a second line of defense that have the capability of intercepting missiles at lower altitudes as they reenter the earth's atmosphere.

Japan's first line of defense against inbound missiles would be its Aegis advanced radar-equipped destroyers.
 [Xinhua/globaltimes.cn]
25/8/17