Patriot batteries to be shipped to Okinawa before Pyongyang's launch
Three Aegis destroyers will be deployed to the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan to intercept a North Korean rocket to be launched next month if it appears that it will fall in Japanese territory or waters, government sources said.
The Defense Ministry will deploy two Maritime Self-Defense Force Aegis vessels equipped with Standard Missile-3 interceptors to the East China Sea from the MSDF base in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, the sources said Friday.
Another Aegis destroyer with SM-3 interceptors will be despatched to the Sea of Japan from the MSDF base in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, the sources said.
North Korea recently announced it would launch an Earth observation satellite aboard a rocket to mark the centennial of state founder Kim Il Sung's birth, which falls April 15. However, the international community widely views this as just a pretext for an ICBM test.
The rocket's trajectory is expected to pass over the Sakishima island chain in Okinawa, at the southernmost tip of the Japanese archipelago.
Read the full story at The Japan Times