Missile units in northeastern Japan ahead of N. Korean launch+

SENDAI, Japan, March 30 Kyodo - Patriot guided-missile units of the Air Self-Defense Force arrived Monday at bases in Akita and Iwate prefectures, northeastern Japan, to intercept a rocket that North Korea plans to launch if it falls on Japanese territory.

The units, capable of launching Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles, have
been stationed in support of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Aegis
guided-missile destroyers that will be deployed in the Sea of Japan and the
Pacific Ocean ahead of North Korea's planned launch between April 4 and 8 of
what it says is a satellite.
Japan, South Korea and the United States believe the launch to be a cover for
the test-firing of a long-range ballistic missile, which is expected to fly
over northeastern Japan.
Around 60 vehicles carrying the units left Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, on
Sunday for deployment in northeastern Japan.
A PAC-3 launcher arrived at a Ground Self-Defense Force base in Iwate
Prefecture and another at a GSDF area in Akita Prefecture.
Under Japan's missile defense plan, the MSDF destroyers will detect and track
the North Korean rocket by radar, and if necessary, attempt to intercept it
with their Standard Missile-3 ballistic missile interceptors outside the
earth's atmosphere.
If the destroyers fail to intercept it, the ASDF's PAC-3 missiles will attempt
to shoot it down immediately before it lands.
According to the ASDF, a single PAC-3 launcher is capable of defending an area
with a 20-kilometer radius. So the two launchers can only defend a limited area
of northeastern Japan, including the cities of Akita and Morioka.
The government says the possibility of the missile falling on Japan is
extremely low.
The country stepped up efforts to improve its missile defense systems after
North Korea fired a ballistic missile that flew over Japan in August 1998.
==Kyodo