The US military ships have sailed into waters off the coast of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to detect a possible launch of any long-range ballistic missile and to prepare a new, unproven missile-interception system, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

Two US Navy ships, which feature sensors that can swiftly detect and track a missile's flight, were operating off the DPRK coast on Tuesday, a Pentagon official was quoted as saying.

The USS Curtis Wilbur and the USS Fitzgerald, both Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, are based at Yokosuka, Japan.

It is apparently the first time that the US government has readied its rudimentary missile-defense system other than to test it, according to the report. US officials, however, played down the possibility that the interceptors might be used against a DPRK missile, the report said.

As part of a long-planned exercise, the Navy has three carrier battle groups operating near Guam in the western Pacific for the first time since the Vietnam War, along with dozens of aircraft, including several heavy bombers, the report said.

Source: Xinhua