MOSCOW, April 11 (RIA Novosti) - Japan will...
"Japan is not planning to integrate its national missile shield into the U.S. global missile network," Gen. Yury Baluyevsky said after talks with his Japanese counterpart Adm. Takashi Saito in Moscow.
Under a December 2004 missile defense cooperation arrangement with the U.S., Japan intends to build by 2011 a national missile-defense network comprising sea- and land-based components.
Japan's determination to boost its missile defenses was strengthened after North Korea conducted a series of ballistic missile tests in July 2006, and an underground nuclear test explosion three months later.
Japan's Cabinet endorsed in December 2007 a review of emergency missile defense rules giving Self-Defense Forces (SDF) the discretion to fire missile interceptors without the premier's go ahead.
The government also authorized the use of U.S. SM-3 interceptor missiles as part of Japan's two-layer missile shield.