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| CGI of an Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System |
TOKYO, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Japan's defense ministry is planning to install a defense system made in the United States known as "Aegis Ashore" to address ongoing concerns about tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported on Thursday.
The defense ministry has, thus far, taken steps to counter any potential launches of ballistic missiles by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) by deploying high-tech Aegis advanced radar-equipped destroyers.
The Aegis system is designed to intercept missiles that are flying outside of the Earth's atmosphere, with the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Aegis destroyers charged with targeting them with their Standard Missile-3 interceptors.
In addition, the ministry has deployed its PAC-3 surface-to-air missile defense systems, as its second line of defense, that have the capability of intercepting missiles at lower altitudes as they reenter the earth's atmosphere.
In a push to bolster its missile defense systems, however, the defense ministry has moved up studies of the "Aegis Ashore" defense system to be funded by allocations in the next fiscal year, Kyodo News quoted government sources as saying.
The "Aegis Ashore" is a land-based version of the Aegis advanced radar system and uses the same technology as those fitted to MSDF Aegis destroyers.
Read the full story at Xinhua