(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 2, 2012: A truck loaded with a unit of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles is placed into Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force's transport vessel Osumi at Kure base in Hiroshima, western Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo on March 31, 2012.
Japan on Friday ordered its military to intercept the North Korean missile Pyongyang plans to launch next month if it poses a direct threat to Japan, a scenario the government considers unlikely.
Japan plans to deploy Aegis radar-equipped destroyers carrying Standard Missile-3 interceptors in the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea, and Patriot Advanced Capability-3 ground-based interceptors on some of Japan's southern islands and in the Tokyo metropolitan area, Defence Minister Naoki Tanaka said.
