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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, April 05, 2004

US may build missile defense system in Japan: report

The United States is reaching Japan over the deployment of a land-based missile defense system before Tokyo has its own built by the end of fiscal 2007, the leading Yomiuri Shimbun reported Monday.


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The United States is reaching Japan over the deployment of a land-based missile defense system before Tokyo has its own built by the end of fiscal 2007, the leading Yomiuri Shimbun reported Monday.

Japan formally decided last year to deploy a dual-level missiledefense system which consists of the land-based PAC-3 and ship-based SM-3 systems, both introduced from the United States. The project is expected to cost billions of US dollars.

Washington believes that the deployment of a US missile defensesystem would benefit Japan because it also would protect the Tokyometropolitan area during the intervening period, the newspaper said.

Washington planned to make its defense system come into play bythe end of 2005. A US source was quoted by the paper as saying that if Japan requests, "there would be no reason for the United States to refuse."

Japan initiated the missile defense system process after 1998 when the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) launched what it claimed a rocket. Tokyo claimed it was a ballistic missile.

The PAC-3 developed from PAC-2 that Japan currently possesses is able to intercept ballistic missiles which have reentered the atmosphere, while the SM-3 has a longer range to punch the target outside the atmosphere.

Source: Xinhua




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