A Japan Self-Defense Force member stands by a PAC-3 Patriot missile unit at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Sunday. The Defense Ministry installed missile interceptors at its headquarters in central Tokyo on Friday amid signs that North Korea may be preparing to launch a rocket or missile.
© Japan TodayReady for N Korean missile launch
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Hasan Az-Zaki Rahim
Please defend & protect Japan!
KnowBetter
When is China going to get tired of that little yappy dog aka North Korea and just look the other way while 'someone' defuses the 'dear leader regime' and reunites the Koreas? I mean really, this punishment of the people in North Korea has gone on long enough...
shonanbb
Know:
South Korea does not want to reunite. Not at least until they go through massive economic changes as China did.
mike_curt
Thank you Japan Self-Defense Force for being on the alert and protecting the people living here in Japan.
koiwaicoffee
Lol. They can't put these misiles in the mountains or near the Sea of Japan right? They put them in the middle of Tokyo just to show off. And to scare people a bit more.
turbotsat
Is it going to clear the building?
gogogo
Wont stop a nuke
bpsitrep
As the Hermit Kingdom crumbles more within, the more danger without is presents. Lil' Un never knew hardship of any kind nor the horror of war, he will start a shooting war before he is out of power. Everyone had better be prepared ahead of this coming event !!
SenseNotSoCommon
Ratchet up the fear, why don't you.
Sensato
If one of these interceptors were to actually hit an incoming missile (which seems extremely doubtful), the debris would scatter all over Tokyo. It would reduce the number of fatalities, but there would still be horrific loss of life on the ground.
If a missile were launched at Tokyo, a more likely scenario would be that the U.S. Armed Forces would scramble a jet to shoot the missile down well before it ever came close to Tokyo.
nath
Only if they shot it down over Tokyo. I believe the interceptors have a further range than that.
wowyz
Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) purchased from the US company Lockheed Martin Missile Defense Systems.
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/PAC-3.html
Triring
The PAC 3 missiles has a limited strike range and can only hit the target in it's reentry stage so it needs to be in the vicinity of the target.
There are no airborne missiles capable for anti-ballistic missions. Either the Atago-class or the Kongo-class on patrol will lock on their SM-3 1A missiles once NK fires their missiles and try to shoot it down during ascension stage. The PAC 3 missiles are there as insurance if in case the SM-3 misses their target .
Wc626
Agree Sensato. Good ole' USAFJ.
shonanbb
We need laser ray guns that can shoot through clouds.
noriyosan73
Does the person with his/her finger on the button have to wait until it is in the column of air directly above Japan before he/she pushes it? After all, self defense means just that, only in Japan's territory. Kim is just jerking the world's chain, and he enjoys seeing the scramble. If there is a launch, it will be in darknesst. What a show!
Disillusioned
It seems the North Korean propaganda machine is in full swing.
smithinjapan
Strangerland: "Only if they shot it down over Tokyo. I believe the interceptors have a further range than that."
Then the ONLY purpose of having them in downtown Tokyo is to elicit fear at a time when Abe and Co are pushing to change the Constitution, but the people are against it and believe it unnecessary. If they have such a vast range, they needn't be in the city centre at all but make much more sense out on the coasts or on the outskirts of the city where they could hit an approaching (or passing) missile/rocket much sooner and further out to sea.
This is just fear mongering.
Triring
The PAC-3 only has a limited range shooting down during reentry stage so it needs to be within the vicinity of the target. There are stationed not only in Tokyo but also Kansai, Tokai and Kyushu densely populated areas.
There is a possibility that Japan adopts THAAD missiles in which case it can be permanently stationed somewhere in the mountains to cover a much larger region but that is for future possibilities.
nath
Or to make the people feel secure (justifiably or not).
AsianGaijinYesWeExist
You think China actually enjoy having this mad dog at its border? Put yourself in China's shoes for a minute. The moment the regime collapses, millions of starving North Koreans are going to rush over into China looking for food and shelter. Are you going to help China feed and cloth these people?
Also, if the two Koreas reunite, do the US troops go home? Maybe. Or they may move up north to the Korean/Chinese border. Do you think China wants that?
It is simplistic to say what you did, but it's not you or Japan who has to deal with the aftermath.
turbotsat
PAC-3 has a published range of 20-35 km and Saitama is listed by google maps as 25 km from Tokyo.
Note also that the 'range' is likely straight from the launcher to the target, not the distance along the ground from the launcher to the spot directly under the target. And from photos of PAC-3 launches, the track seems a lot more vertical than horizontal. Also at the launchers' locations the missiles will have to clear the buildings north of the ministry.
Note the Google map has the revetments at different locations from the photo taken from across the fence, from a drone or helicopter or rooftop. Also in the Google Map, no launchers are shown, only revetments.
https://goo.gl/maps/B9guwup8yuR2 - Defense Ministry (satellite view).
http://d13uygpm1enfng.cloudfront.net/article-imgs/en/2012/04/09/AJ201204090003/AJ201204090004M.jpg - the launchers moved out from their revetments.
WA4TKG
Let's SHOOT them DOWN THIS time, instead of watching TWO of them fly COMPLETELY OVER Japanese Air Space, as they did 15 years ago.
bjohnson23
re: "If a missile were launched at Tokyo, a more likely scenario would be that the U.S. Armed Forces would scramble a jet to shoot the missile down well before it ever came close to Tokyo"
That is so old school and dark ages, please rethink your comment to 2016 and beyond, perhaps in the old days the US Armed Forces would need to scramble jets but today with technology the US doesn't have to bat an eye to swat a fly as the saying goes, an EMP burst or a laser blast would do the trick; NK would never know what happened to their toy, meanwhile China would be screaming that the US should have held more constraint, while funneling more arms into NK in the same breath, while Abe would be drooling wondering how he can get JASDF armed with the same might and change the Constitution in one stroke. And last but not least would be Russia, in some dark corner making closet deals to get the technology out of the US and into their hands. .
wtfjapan
They put them in the middle of Tokyo just to show off. And to scare people a bit more. exactly if you want to intercept a missile it seems you want to do it before it reaches Japan, either at sea of right on your borders. shooting it down while its over populated areas defeats the purpose. But it much more of a spectacle to do it where everybody can see it.
Meiyouwenti
The problem with missile defense is that the attacking side can achieve its goal if only one of their missiles hits the target, while the defending side must shoot down every single incoming missile.
The Patriot worked in test firings in which they knew where the missiles were coming from. It will never work in practice.
Triring
I don't recall Japan doing nuclear test or threatening to fire ballistic missiles at another nation.
If you have more then one option to shoot down missiles out of the sky to keep the citizens away from harms way then the government would take every known precautions in doing so. It would be a crime if they didn't.
inkochi
Um, I don't want to be defended by people who aim anti-missile missiles at buildings.
There could be a better look than in this photo, such as pointing the missiles at the sky!
Thunderbird2
I see the SDF have changed their camouflage pattern... still a 'digital' pattern rather than organic shapes.
As for the interceptor batteries - ever think they have them at the coast too? "Ooh they're in the city to scare people"...
USNinJapan2
Judging from some of the comments, many of you clearly have no knowledge of how tiered ballistic missile defense works. The PAC3 is merely the last line of defense and being by design a short ranged system is deployed in the vicinity of the asset being protected. If a ballistic missile fired at Tokyo (or any populace area) ever penetrated to the point that it has to be engaged by a Patriot battery, collateral damage from missile debris is a foregone conclusion.
Serrano
"They can't put these misiles in the mountains or near the Sea of Japan right? They put them in the middle of Tokyo just to show off. And to scare people a bit more."
North Korea has launched missiles before that could have reached Tokyo if they had been aimed right. You never know, this next one could come down in the middle of Shibuya Scramble. I'm glad the SDF has the Patriot missiles set up.
Nerakai
US might be the first one who would vote for opposition over Koreas reunite. Where to sell weapons afterward? Are you guys seriously afraid that N.Korea's test missile would come down to any of Japanese cities? Why would he do that?
itsonlyrocknroll
Humm... If PAC 3 is initiated/activated all else has failed......
The Patriot PAC-3 is a part of three-layer missile defense network. The first line of defense comes from AEGIS missiles, designed to knock-out ballistic missiles in space. If that fails, ballistic missiles are intercepted by THAAD anti-ballistic missile system, just as they re-enter the atmosphere. The final layer of defense is the Patriot PAC-3 missile
http://www.military-today.com/missiles/patriot_pac3.htm
tokyomusing
Lots of uneducated guesses here.
These are in Tokyo because it's a likely target. The Patriot is designed for terminal stage destruction. In the case of an ICBM or similar, this is the only stage in which you can reliably down the missile - on the final approach. SM2s from an AEGIS radar equipped ship will also do the same, but the target area needs to be very close.
The USAF cannot "shoot" an ICBM out of midair with a fighter. If they could do that they would have used that approach instead of a massively costly missile defense program. They tried chemical lasers to shoot down ICBMs but miniaturization of powerful enough lasers hasn't matured enough yet to be used with any sort of reliability. EMP burst does nothing - even without guidance, by the time it's terminal and assuming it's aimed at a city, you can fry the electronics but the warhead will still detonate all the same. Besides the obvious problem of using an EMP weapon over TOKYO.
Debris from a shoot down will cause damage but it will certainly be less than if a missile impacted the ground with god-knows-what in it (chemical/biological/nuclear warhead).
Is it fear mongering? Certainly. But to NOT deploy them, frankly, just isn't worth the risk is Kim Jong-crazy decides he wants to blow up Tokyo for real this time.
itsonlyrocknroll
Is it only a matter of time then the Government of Japan develop a submarine based nuclear deterrent ?
USNinJapan2
tokyomusing
You mean ship-based SM3 missiles, not SM2...
itsonlyrocknroll
Obviously these missiles aren't purchased through sales promotion schemes, buy six batteries of launchers and there a coupon giveaway for the associated support vehicles. So with that in mind do these missile systems perform as they are supposed to?. Chances are customers are not going to be around to request a refund.
warispeace
Can't be surprised with another warmongering photo here.
USNinJapan2
warispeace
Warmongering? So you're the type that thinks a completely defensive system like the PAC-3 Patriot is somehow a provocation?
itsonlyrocknroll
Actually it appears so....
The PAC-3 Missile System Test P6L-3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtz2BQ2Au0w
WilliB
Never. Why should they? Why would Peking want a united and strong Korea over which they have no control?
Steven Calhoun
Porky Pig needs to quit trying to trick the world into feeding his starving people. He needs to take the 5B dollars he has hidden in Switzerland and other banks across the world, that his people know nothing about. His people are kept illiterate, barefoot and starved to keep them in compliance. Ban, of the U.N. needs to make sure he can save face vieing for the N. Korean government all the time about food. MAKE KIM SPEND THE MONEY HE HAS STASHED!
smithinjapan
USNinJapan2: "Warmongering? So you're the type that thinks a completely defensive system like the PAC-3 Patriot is somehow a provocation?"
It all is. They push the need for it, then reinforce it by putting it there and saying it's necessary for protection.
Anyway, I see Yamagata Prefecture has already started in on the proud Japanese tradition of announcing NK has launched a missile when it hasn't. Wonder which prefectures and news sites will also prematurely do so tomorrow?
USNinJapan2
smithinjapan
What lunacy. An anti-BM goalkeeper system like the Patriot provokes war as much as airbags promote crashes and fire extinguishers cause fires.