Japan shoots down ballistic missile in test
12/18/2007
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
KAUAI ISLAND, Hawaii--A Japanese destroyer shot down a ballistic missile with an interceptor Monday in a successful test here that puts Japan's defense system "into a new era," Defense Ministry officials said.
The
Maritime Self-Defense Force's destroyer Kongo, equipped with the state-of-the-art Aegis missile defense system, launched the Standard Missile 3 (SM3) interceptor missile that hit the target, the officials said at a U.S. military facility here.
It was the first time that a country other than the United States has successfully intercepted a missile with a sea-based launch of an SM3, they said.
"With (Monday's) success, we finally constructed a system to deal with ballistic missiles in two stages--upper layer and lower layer," said Rear Adm. Katsutoshi Kawano of the MSDF's Maritime Staff Office. "Japan's defense system entered a new era."
Japan's ballistic missile defense (BMD) system is designed to shoot down enemy missiles with SM3s launched from Aegis-equipped vessels. If the SM3s fail to hit the targets, Patriot Advanced Capability 3 (PAC3) missiles launched from the ground are expected to shoot down the incoming missiles.
According to the officials, the test started at 12:05 p.m. Monday when the U.S. military fired a mock ballistic missile.
Four minutes later, the Kongo, stationed off the coast of Kauai island, launched an SM3.
At 12:12 p.m., the interceptor hit the mock missile at an altitude of more than 100 kilometers.
A wireless radio allowed reporters to hear what was going on in the missile control room. From the radio, a voice said, "Bunbun," indicating that the missile had hit the target, followed by a round of clapping.
The Defense Ministry plans to release videos and photos of the moment when the interceptor hit the mock missile.
The Kongo will be deployed to the MSDF's Sasebo Base in Nagasaki Prefecture early next month, officials said.
The ministry plans to deploy four Aegis-equipped vessels loaded with SM3s by the end of fiscal 2010. It will also install the PAC3 missile defense systems at 16 places in or around Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and other cities.
After Monday's test, Senior Vice Defense Minister Akinori Eto held a news conference at the U.S. military facility in Hawaii.
"This success is the result of the cooperation between Japan and the United States in the fields of technology and operation," he said. "It shows the drastic progress of the allied relations. It is a commemorative new page for the history of the Japan-U.S. alliance."
Lt. Gen. Henry "Trey" Obering III, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, said at the news conference that the success is a very important event for cooperation between the United States and Japan. He also said Japan made a big step forward.
Monday's test was just one of many stages for Japan in completing the BMD system. Similar tests will be held in the future.
Japan's BMD system is estimated to cost more than 1 trillion yen ($8.8 billion), but the price tag is expected to increase because the United States has asked Japan to shoulder part of the financial burden to develop new equipment for the system.
The enormous cost of the project has come under criticism from some experts.(IHT/Asahi: December 18,2007)
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