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FIELDS OF FIRE Visitors look at a field of orange lilies at the Nanyuan Resort Farm in Tainan County yesterday. The resort will be holding an international flower exhibition, which will open on Feb. 1.
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Bag it A seamstress holds a bag made from a legislative election campaign flag in Taipei County yesterday. The Taipei County Government has collected all campaign flags and made them into bags and cooking aprons for the public in an effort to recycle materials.
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Japan tests PAC-3 missile interceptors' capability in Tokyo
AGENCIES, TOKYO
Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008, Page 5
Japan sent military trucks into a park in central Tokyo this week to see whether
high-tech PAC-3 missile interceptors would be capable of shooting down missiles
headed for the city.
Japan has two PAC-3 interceptors at military bases around Tokyo, but given their
relatively limited range, they would need to be deployed closer to the center of
the city for optimal protection.
The defense ministry said it had tested communication equipment on Monday and
yesterday at a park in Shinjuku, central Tokyo, to see if Patriot Advanced
Capability-3 interceptors could be moved to the area from outside Tokyo in an
emergency.
A spokesman said the ministry was unlikely to disclose the results of the tests,
in which it used four trucks with antennas and radio relay equipment. The tests
also studied surrounding buildings and the terrain.
The deployments involved transporting the missile units -- but not actual
missiles -- to the sites, where surveys of the landscape and electronic noise
were taken to determine if missiles could be fired effectively, the spokesman
said.
An undisclosed number of soldiers from the Air Self-Defense Force worked on at
least four vehicles at the sites.
PAC-3s, which are meant to shoot down incoming missiles in the final phase of
their flight, are scheduled to be deployed at two more locations near Tokyo by
the end of March.
A newspaper reported last year that Japan may move the interceptors near the
imperial palace if it comes under imminent threat of attack, but the ministry
spokesman declined to comment on the report.
Last month, Japan successfully tested its Standard missile-3 interceptor system
fired from a destroyer off Hawaii. Sea-based missiles would be the first line of
defense against a missile attack. If those fail, the land-based PAC-3s would be
used as a last-ditch resort to intercept incoming attacks.
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