Japan launches sixth Aegis warship

TOKYO: Japan on Wednesday launched its sixth Aegis destroyer, which will be fitted with anti-missile capabilities next year, as the country boosts defenses amid fears over North Korea, the navy said.

The Ashigara, sixth in line of Japan's Aegis destroyers and the heaviest, was put to sea in a ceremony in the southwestern port city of Nagasaki.

It will be equipped with the US-designed Standard Missile-3 anti-missile system throughout next year, said Noriyuki Tanaka, spokesman for Japan's navy, the Maritime Self-Defense Forces.

"This is simply part of our upgrading schedule that we had already planned out before, especially since North Korea launched its first missile (in 1998). Starting next year, the Ashigara will be upgraded on a yearly basis as will its predecessors," he said.

North Korea stunned the world in 1998 by firing its long-range Taepodong-1 missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean in what the communist state called an attempted satellite launch.

Japan and the United States have stepped up efforts to build missile defenses after North Korea on July 5 test-fired seven missiles including a Taepodong-2 into the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

The Shiloh guided-missile cruiser, the first US warship to be deployed in Japan with the capability to shoot down short- and medium-range missiles, arrived Tuesday at the US naval base of Yokosuka south of Tokyo.

The United States has also started installing its first interceptor missiles on Japanese soil. The Patriot surface-to-air missiles are due to be partly operational in the southern island chain of Okinawa by year end.