WASHINGTON: The United States is expected to begin testing in Japan a powerful new missile defence radar amid plans to beef up missile defence there, US officials said on Monday.
The efforts have taken on greater urgency in the face of a possible North Korean long-range missile launch but officials said the initiatives have been under discussion for some time as part of a broader realignment of US forces in Japan.
General Henry "Trey" Obering, head of the US Missile Defence Agency, said on Friday that an X-band radar has been located in Japan as part of a network of forward deployed missile defence sensors that also includes US Aegis destroyers.
The site selected for the so-called Forward Based X-band Transportable (FBX-T) radar is opposite North Korea in northeastern Japan at an air base near the village of Shariki.
The Missile Defense Agency said Monday data gathered by the radar will be shared between US and Japanese forces, and "will support capabilities to intercept hostile missiles."
"The radar will be capable of detecting ballistic missiles early in their flight and will provide precise tracking information for use by the combatant commanders," the agency said.
"This approach provides overlapping sensor-coverage, expands potential battle space, and complicates an enemy’s ability to penetrate the defence system," the agency said.
Testing of the radar could begin as early as this week, a defence official said.
Japan was stunned in 1998 when North Korea fired a long-range Taepodong missile in a surprise test, and tensions again are on the rise over North Korean preparations for a possible Taepodong-2 launch.
Japan, which still has no missile defence system, has agreed in principle to the deployment of US Army Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile defense systems at US military installations to protect US forces.
Neither side would say when the PAC-3 missile defence batteries will deploy. The Yomiuri Shimbun, citing unnamed government sources, said Washington told Tokyo at a June 17 working-level meeting in Hawaii of the plans to install three to four Patriot missiles at its Okinawa bases. An additional 500 to 600 US troops also would be deployed along with the PAC-3 missiles by the end of the year, Japan's top-selling daily said.
Tokyo plans to accept the deployment despite expected concerns in Okinawa, which hosts 75 per cent of US military facilities in Japan, it said.
"Whereas the technical requirements of the FBX-T necessitated selection of the Shariki site, where the US does not have a base, the US will not require additional facilities and areas for deployment of our PAC-3 capabilities," said Lieutenant Colonel Brian Maka, a Pentagon spokesman.
"But we still have considerable work to do with the government of Japan before we can be more specific about a final site for this deployment," he said.
"Japan and the United States are in talks," a Japanese Defence Agency spokesman said in Tokyo. "But no details have been finalized and they can't be confirmed now because the talks are still ongoing."
