US radar to boost missile defence in Japan

JAPAN: Tokyo and Washington plan to install a US early-warning radar system at a coastal base near Kyoto to bolster defences against the North Korean missile threat, reports said Sunday.

The X-band radar, capable of precisely tracking the trajectory of a ballistic missile, allows US forces to launch intercept missiles from the ground and sea once a ballistic missile has been detected.

It will be the second X-band radar system to be installed in Japan after another was set up in northern Aomori prefecture. The X-band radar system will be built in an Air Self-Defence Force base in Kyotango, northwest of Kyoto, on the coast of the Sea of Japan, or East Sea, Kyodo News and Jiji Press agencies reported, citing unnamed sources.

The location was picked as it was likely that a North Korean missile targeting Guam or Hawaii would fly over western or central parts of Japan, Kyodo said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Barack Obama confirmed in their meeting Friday in Washington that the two countries would work together on the radar installation, the reports said.

AFP