Washington has informally sounded out Tokyo on the plan aimed at protecting US military bases and other facilities in Japan from such attacks, the major Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

Citing Japanese and US sources, Yomiuri said Tokyo intended to discuss the plan promptly.

The US military is considering deploying the Patriot Advanced Capability 3 (PAC-3), a US army surface-to-air guided missile that is capable of intercepting such missiles as the North Korean Rodong, which has a range of about 1,300 kilometers (810 miles), the report said.

Washington is considering a plan to transport antiballistic missiles and radars in C-5 transport planes from the United States to Japan when an armed attack on this country is believed to be imminent, the report added.

Japan plans to deploy in the year to March 2008 an anti-missile system consisting of the seaborne Standard Missile 3 (SM3) and the land-based PAC-3.

SM-3s intercept ballistic missiles when they reach their highest point outside of the atmosphere and then PAC-3 missiles are used to finish off the missiles that have escaped SM-3 attacks.

The PAC3 is an advanced version of the PAC-2 which Japan's air defence force is deploying at 27 anti-aircraft artillery units nationwide.

Japan has hastened to build up a missile defense system since North Korea lobbed a suspected Taepodong missile into the Pacific in 1998, shocking the region and the world.

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