Japan may need missile early warning satellite: minister

MISSILE DEFENSE

NKorea has improved rocket technology: Tokyo
Film footage of North Korea's rocket launch suggests the hardline regime has achieved technological advances in recent years, Japan's top government spokesman said Wednesday. The footage showed the rocket "was launched fine," Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told reporters. "It was launched in a more advanced way than in previous cases," he said, noting the rocket was much larger than those previously fired by North Korea. Footage released by the North Tuesday, two days after the launch, showed a three-stage white rocket soaring into the sky. The North says the rocket was carrying a communications satellite, but Washington and its allies say the exercise was a pretext to test a long-range Taepodong-2 ballistic missile that could, in theory, reach Alaska or Hawaii. Pyongyang test launched a Taepodong-2 in 2006 but it blew up after 40 seconds. The North fired a shorter-range Taepodong-1 over Japan in 1998 as part of a failed satellite launch. The United States and its allies, including Japan, are pushing for strong action at the United Nations in response to the latest launch, which they say defies past resolutions, but they face opposition from China and Russia. While the North insists its satellite was placed in orbit and is beaming patriotic songs, South Korea, Japan and the US military say there is no sign of a satellite. Experts say the rocket's second and third stage failed to separate and that it fell in the Pacific short of the designated landing zone.

by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) April 9, 2009
Japan's defence minister Thursday told a meeting on North Korea's rocket launch that Tokyo should consider deploying an early warning satellite to monitor future missile launches around Japan.

"It would give us some time to react immediately after a launch. I am fully aware of the importance" of such a satellite, Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada told a parliamentary security meeting.

Communist North Korea on Sunday angered Japan by launching over its territory what it called a communications satellite. Washington, Tokyo and Seoul say it was really a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Japan deployed land- and sea-based missile defence systems before and during the North Korean launch in case of a mishap, but it had to rely on a US military satellite to detect the launch itself.

While waiting for the blast-off, Japan sent out a false alarm Saturday based on information received by its own ground-based radars.

Japan already has four spy satellites in orbit -- launched after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan in 1998 -- including one that allows Tokyo to monitor any point on Earth once a day.

But it has no space orbiters fitted with infrared sensors that can quickly detect a missile launch. A special task force under Prime Minister Taro Aso last week proposed development of such satellites within five years.

Aso, meanwhile, said Japan was continuing its push for a fresh UN resolution to condemn North Korea, despite resistance from Russia and China.

"Japan has been demanding that the UN Security Council issue a resolution, not a presidential statement" which would be weaker and non-binding, he said.

"Various negotiations will take place for some time ahead... I think it's difficult to see a settlement within this week," Aso told a news conference.

Japan was also expected to extend and strengthen its bilateral sanctions against the North Friday by imposing stricter rules on money transfers.

But local media said the government had decided to back off from a sweeping ban on Japanese exports, to keep such punishment as a future option.

Japan first imposed sanctions after the reclusive regime tested a nuclear bomb in 2006.

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MISSILE DEFENSE

Israel tests Arrow interceptor missile

Jerusalem (AFP) April 7, 2009
Israel on Tuesday carried out a successful new test of its Hetz (Arrow) interceptor missile, a project launched two decades ago, public radio said.

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