China Locks Weapons on Japanese Destroyer

[Reality Check]

China locked weapons control radars on a Japanese destroyer on January 19th and again on January 30th.

This is the last step before launching an anti-ship missile, and is considered a hostile military act.

Japan delayed reporting the incidents until they could confirm that the radars locked on were indeed Chinese fire control radars and also to confirm the exact source of the radar signals that locked onto the Japanese war ship.

Ant-Ship missiles, much older and much less sophisticated anti-ship missiles, were devastating during the Falklands war in the 1980s. They would have been even more so if all the Argentine air launched anti-ship missiles had been properly armed and had actually detonated after they had penetrated UK ships.

Japan has now filed formal complaints against the hostile acts in the capital of China and also at China's embassy in Japan.

Japan publicly announced the incidents the same day.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/ ... 5-09-22-53