DTN News - JAPAN DEFENSE NEWS: Japan Ready For North Korea Missile Launch

DTN News - JAPAN DEFENSE NEWS: Japan Ready For North Korea Missile Launch
*Japan deploys interceptor missiles amid fears projectile to be launched later this month may veer into its airspace
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Al Jazeera
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 5, 2012: Japan has completed the deployment of a land-based system of interceptor missiles in preparation for a planned North Korean rocket launch later this month.

The exercise was finalised in Okinawa on Thursday, days after a similar deployment was completed on Monday in Naha, the capital of the Okinawa prefecture.

The interceptors would be ready to shoot down any parts of the rocket that veer into Japan's airspace.

Kunisaki, a transport ship of the Maritime Defence Force, carried the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile interceptors to the port in Ishigaki island to be installed facing towards the controversial rocket's planned route.

With the PAC-3's arrival in Ishigaki, the island closest to the area of the rocket's trajectory, interceptors are now positioned in four locations in Okinawa, including the military bases in Naha, Miyako and Chinen.

Mobile missile launchers, in addition to the ones in Okinawa, will be positioned in the Tokyo metropolitan area in the next few days.

Birthday celebration
North Korea's "Unha-3" rocket is expected to fly over western Japan, including part of Okinawa, after it is launched from a pad on North Korea's west coast between April 12-16.

The North says the launch is for putting a satellite into orbit in honour of the 100th birthday of the country's late founder, Kim Il Sung.

It has raised concerns that a failed launch, or a failing stage of the rocket, could endanger Japanese lives or property.

In addition to the PAC-3s, anti-missile equipped destroyers will be deployed to the Pacific and East China Sea.

Tokyo took the same measures in 2009 over an earlier North Korea missile launch.

They deployed warships with anti-missile systems, positioned patriot missile interceptors and established a system to warn residents when the rocket was approaching.

Japan's intentions were not to shoot down the rocket but to have self-defence forces on standby to intercept any fragments of a missile should the launch fail.

Japan, the US and other countries claim the North is seeking to test the capabilities of its long-range missiles, in violation of international agreements.


*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Al Jazeera
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DTN News: North Korea Top Stories / Headlines News Dated December 27, 2011

DTN News: North Korea Top Stories / Headlines News Dated December 27, 2011

 Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources DTN News Images & AFP

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - December 27, 2011: Comprehensive daily news related to North Korea for the world of TODAY.

*Comprehensive daily news related to North Korea Top Stories / Headlines News for the world of TODAY.

DTN News - December 27, 2011: North Korea Prepares Huge Send-Off For Late Leader

North Korea was Tuesday preparing a massive ceremonial farewell to late leader Kim Jong-il as it strove to strengthen a new personality cult around his youthful son and successor Jong-un.
The secretive state has so far given no details whatever of Wednesday's funeral for its "Dear Leader" of the past 17 years.

But analysts say the regime, as it did in 1994 when Kim Jong-il's own father died, will use the event to shore up loyalty to the new leader and will likely mobilize hundreds of thousands of people.
The untested Jong-un, aged only in his late 20s, has been thrust into the world spotlight since his father died suddenly on December 17 aged 69.
Official media has added several titles to his flimsy CV, declaring him "great successor", supreme commander of the world's fourth-largest military and head of the ruling party's powerful Central Committee.
The son, who has not yet been formally appointed to the party and military posts, has been the central figure in scenes of mourning at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where his father lies in state in a glass coffin.
On Monday he met the leaders of two South Korean delegations at the palace, expressing "deep gratitude" for their presence, according to official media.
South Korea, which has remained technically at war with the North for six decades, has responded cautiously to the shake-up in its nuclear-armed neighbour.
Unlike in 1994, the Seoul government expressed sympathy to the North's people and made other conciliatory gestures.
But it authorized mourning visits to Pyongyang by just the two South Korean delegations, a restriction that the North termed "inhuman".
Lee Hee-ho, widow of late South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, and Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun paid respects Monday to the late leader and expressed condolences to Jong-un.

Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il held the first-ever inter-Korean summit in 2000 and Hyundai pioneered cross-border business projects.
While Kim Jong-il had 20 years to prepare for the communist world's only dynastic succession, Jong-un has had barely three. Analysts will closely watch the funeral for possible clues about who will have most influence with him.
Jong-un, "great successor to the Juche (self-reliance) revolutionary cause and sagacious leader of our party, state, army and people, is at the helm of the Korean revolution", the North's news agency reported early Tuesday.
South Korean media, basing their predictions on arrangements for the 1994 funeral, said the obsequies would likely begin at 10:00 am Wednesday, with Jong-un and senior officials paying final respects at the memorial palace.
They said the military was expected to fire a 24-gun salute and troops would march through central Pyongyang, accompanying a limousine carrying Kim's coffin and another car with a giant photo.
Military marching bands would play funeral music while convoys of motorcycles and cars carrying flowers and senior officials would follow the coffin as hundreds of thousands looked on, the media forecast.
Mourning will officially end Thursday with a nationwide memorial service including a three-minute silence, the North's media has reported.
On Tuesday the South Korean delegations, who were to return later Wednesday across the heavily fortified border, met the North's de facto head of state and parliament chief Kim Yong-nam, state media reported.
Lee and Hyun expressed hope that declarations agreed at summits in 2000 and 2007 would be implemented, it said.
On their way home they stopped off at the Kaesong industrial estate just north of the border — the last major joint venture still functioning, the South's Yonhap news agency reported.
The complex, utilising the North's labour in Seoul-owned light industries, has survived high cross-border tensions of recent years.

© Copyright (c) AFP

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    *Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources AFP

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DTN News - PICTURES OF TODAY: Pictures Of December 21, 2011 Presented By DTN News

DTN News - PICTURES OF TODAY: Pictures Of December 21, 2011 Presented By DTN News

Source: DTN News 
 (NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - December 21, 2011: View the latest pictures, photos and images events unfolding around the world of Today.

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DTN News - JAPAN DEFENSE NEWS: Japan Picks Lockheed F-35 Fighter As Allies Stress Tight Ties

DTN News - JAPAN DEFENSE NEWS: Japan Picks Lockheed F-35 Fighter As Allies Stress Tight Ties
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters
 (NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - December 20, 2011: Japan picked Lockheed Martin's F-35 jet as its next mainstay fighter Tuesday, choosing the aircraft over combat-proven but less stealthy rivals, as concern simmers over North Korea and as China introduces its own stealth fighters.

The decision came as Japan and the United States stressed that their security alliance was tight in the face of worry about an unstable North Korea after the death of its leader, Kim Jong-il.

Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa said the decision to buy 42 of the stealth aircraft, valued by analysts at more than $7 billion, would help Japan adjust to a changing security environment after Monday's announcement of the death of the 69-year-old North Korean leader.

"The security environment surrounding future fighter jets is transforming. The F-35 has capabilities that can firmly respond to the changes," Ichikawa told reporters.

Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon hailed Japan's selection of the F-35, saying it would help establish a strategic, conventional deterrent in the Asia-Pacific region, where concern simmers about instability under Kim's successor, his untested youngest son, Kim Jong-un.

"The F-35 Program Office looks forward to strengthening partnerships with Japan, and contributing to enhanced security throughout the Asia Pacific region," the Pentagon said in a statement after Japan announced its decision.

The F-35, which is in an early production stage, competed against Boeing's F/A-18 and the Eurofighter Typhoon, made by a consortium of European companies including BAE Systems.

Experts said the decision to opt for the U.S. plane, made informally well before news of Kim's death, reflected Japan's desire to tighten U.S. ties in the face of concern over China's rising military might and other regional uncertainties.

"It reflects Japan's recognition on a variety of levels that at a time of greater insecurity, it needs to be more deeply engaged with the United States on security issues," said Brad Glosserman, executive director at Honolulu's Pacific Forum CSIS.

In a sign the allies meant to stand together, U.S. President Barack Obama spoke by telephone to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and underscored the U.S. commitment to its allies, the White House said.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told a news conference that Washington and its two close Asia allies, Japan and South Korea, were likely to hold high-level talks on North Korea soon. "The date has not been decided but it will be at the soonest possible opportunity," he said.

U.S.-Japan relations had frayed after the novice Democratic Party of Japan took power in 2009 for the first time, vowing to recalibrate the alliance on a more equal basis and attempting, unsuccessfully, to keep a pledge to move a U.S. military base off Japan's Okinawa island.

Noda, who took office last September, has firmly shifted gears back to a more traditional security stance.

"Once again, Japan's security policy is right back to the post-war Japanese mainstream -- the decision that the U.S. is Japan's best security partner," Glosserman said.

Japan had been widely expected to choose the F-35 due to its advanced stealth capability and U.S. origin. Stealth technology has drawn much attention in Japan since China, which has a long-running territorial dispute with Japan, in January confirmed it had held its first test flight of the J-20 stealth fighter jet.

Despite Sino-Japanese tension over territorial feuds, maritime resources and a bitter wartime past, Noda will nonetheless be seeking China's cooperation in coping with North Korea when he visits Beijing on December 25-26.

"Instructions from the prime minister were that we need to establish close cooperation and exchange of information with the United States, South Korea and China, so we will seek to work with China on this understanding," Fujimura said.

BOOST FOR LOCKHEED MARTIN

Japan's choice of the F-35 comes as a shot in the arm for Lockheed Martin's F-35 program, which has been restructured twice in the past two years and is expected to boost the odds that South Korea will follow suit with its own order for 60 fighters. Japan will pay 9.9 billion yen per fighter including backup parts in the initial stage of procurement.

"This program badly needed an endorsement like this, particularly one from a technically respected customer. But there are still many complications, especially price tag and work share demands," said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with the U.S.-based Teal Group.

He said the F-35 program was facing scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and officials who need to trim hundreds of billions of dollars from the defense budget over the next decade.

Boeing's loss of the order would be a real setback for the company's prospects in the fighter business, especially since there were few other large competitions open anymore, said Loren Thompson of Lexington Institute.

"The market place is signaling to Boeing that its days in the fighter business may be numbered," Thompson said.

Japanese firms Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd , IHI Corp and Mitsubishi Electric Corp will participate in the production and maintenance of the F-35, the Defense Ministry said.

A Lockheed Martin official said Japanese defense contractors could become global suppliers to the F-35 stealth fighter program if Japan's government decided to ease a decades-old ban on exports of military equipment.

"The Japanese aerospace industry is world class, so if there was a relaxation (of the export ban) it would be very logical for them to have the opportunity and indeed it would be a very good opportunity to participate in the F35 global supply chain," Dave Scott, director of international business development for the stealth fighter, told Reuters.

Japan is considering easing the export ban, a step that might allow its contractors to bid for contracts in the United States, which spends 10 times as much on its military.

Ending the ban would also allow Japan to buy aircraft, ships, missiles and other equipment more cheaply by allowing domestic manufacturers to tap overseas markets and lower production costs through economies of scale.

(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa and Carol Bohan in Washington, Tim Kelly and Shinichi Saoshiro in Towriting by Leika Kihara and Linda Sieg; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Robert Birsel)

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters
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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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