Missile defense gear unloaded in Okinawa

NAHA, Okinawa Pref. (Kyodo) The first batch of equipment for an advanced surface-to-air missile defense system arrived Saturday in Okinawa, with the system scheduled to go partially online later this year at the U.S. Kadena Air Base and the U.S. Air Force's Kadena Ammunition Storage Area, the U.S. military said.

The Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptor system itself is scheduled to be delivered within two weeks to a U.S. military facility in Uruma, Okinawa Prefecture.

The initial cargo, unloaded from a freighter Saturday morning at a U.S. military port in Naha, includes large trucks and containers containing other equipment, according to the military.

During the unloading work that began at around 8:15 a.m., several demonstrators shouted from outside the port's fence in protest against the PAC-3 deployment.

Starting Monday, the U.S. military plans to take four to five days to move the cargo to the Kadena base via national highway Route 58.

The United States plans to partially begin operations of the PAC-3 system by the end of December. It is expected to become fully operational by the end of March.

The decision to deploy the first missile defense system in Japan was made in the wake of concerns among Japanese and U.S. authorities about North Korea's missile capability.

In an agreement reached between Tokyo and Washington in May on the realignment of the U.S. military presence in Japan, the U.S. government said it would deploy PAC-3 missile interceptors at U.S. military facilities in Japan and make them operational as soon as possible.

The PAC-3 system is designed to intercept incoming ballistic missiles in their final phase.