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Shield's Up!
The U.S. Navy said it would deploy a guided missile destroyer in the Sea of Japan in September as part of a U.S. effort to deploy an anti-missile shield to protect against attacks from countries like North Korea by the end of 2004. Navy Secretary Gordon England said the destroyer -- equipped to track potential enemy missiles -- would remain in the Sea of Japan "on a virtually continuous basis" as "part of the president's directive to accelerate the fielding of a ballistic missile defense operational capability." Chris Taylor, spokesman for the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency (MDA), said a total of seven Navy destroyers -- including the one in the Sea of Japan -- would be equipped with long-range missile tracking and surveillance capability by the end of 2004. Fifteen would be equipped by early 2006. By the end of 2005, the Navy would have three Aegis cruisers equipped with the Standard Missile 3 system to shoot down short- or medium-range missiles launched against U.S. or allied targets, Taylor said at a conference sponsored by MDA and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Posted by: Steve 2004-03-23 |
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| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=28885 |