TOKYO - Japan plans to deploy two more Aegis warships armed with advanced missiles, including one that can intercept ballistic missiles, a news report said on Saturday, as the country tries to bolster its defenses in the wake of North KoreaÂ’s missiles launches.| The progressive Left keeps saying that missile defense doesn't and can't work, but I guess the Japanese never read the |
A fifth Aegis vessel, to be commissioned next spring, will be deployed also at Maizuru, Kyodo News Agency said, citing unnamed defense officials. The report did not say which type of missiles the fifth warship would have. JapanÂ’s navy is expected to deploy a sixth warship at Sasebo base in the southern prefecture (state) of Nagasaki in the spring of 2008, the report said. The warship will be equipped with SM-3 missiles, capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, it said.
A spokeswoman for the Maritime Self-Defense Force confirmed that the government plans to upgrade at least three of its existing destroyers with SM-3 missiles. She also confirmed that two more destroyers will be deployed by the spring of 2008, but denied that a decision had been made on where they will be located. She spoke on condition of anonymity, citing agency policy.
| That's a whole of interceptor capability, and it's going to make it more difficult for the NKors to threaten with just a single missile or two. |