Mobile missile tracking system second in Pacific theater

Staff Sgt. Jonas Moody, left, and Sgt. 1st Class Cody Dorman adjust one of three satellite antennas that are part of the Joint Tactical Ground Stations detachment at Misawa Air Base. The mobile missile tracking system, the first system of its kind in Japan and the second in the Pacific theater, was demonstrated to civic and military leaders and the media on Tuesday.


Mobile missile tracking system second in Pacific theater
By Jennifer H. Svan, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, January 24, 2008

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — In the demonstration, the computer map showed a ballistic missile launch from North Korea.

“We can do simulations from many different areas,” said Brig. Gen. John E. Seward at the official opening of JTAGS, the first mobile missile tracking system in Japan. “That’s just the one the soldiers picked for today.”

Efforts to bring the Joint Tactical Ground Stations unit to Japan started long before North Korea launched three missiles in July.

Seward, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command deputy commander for operations based in Colorado Springs, Colo., said the process was four years in the making, at the request of U.S. Pacific Command. Although its three satellite antennas can be picked up and moved in the back of vehicles, the station will be a permanent presence at Misawa for the foreseeable future, officials said.

Japanese civic leaders, media members and military leaders from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and 35th Fighter Wing were given a tour and demonstration of how JTAGS works.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51849