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WASHINGTON - A Japanese Navy destroyer shot down a ballistic missile yesterday in a test about 160km over the Pacific, a first for a United States ally.
The US$55 million ($74 million) test was a "major milestone" in growing US-Japanese cooperation, said Rear-Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano of the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force and Lieutenant General Henry Obering, head of the Pentagon's Missile Defence Agency.
US-Japanese missile-defence ties have grown greatly since North Korea fired a three-stage Taepo Dong 1 missile over Japan on August 31, 1998.
The interceptor was fired by JS Kongo, the first of four Japanese destroyers due to be outfitted to counter missiles that could carry chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.
By intercepting a missile similar in speed and size to those in North Korea's arsenal, "Japan has proven its capability to defend and protect their country from North Korean missiles," said Riki Ellison, a prominent missile-defence advocate who monitored the test.
The test involved a shipboard detection and tracking tool called Aegis, built by Lockheed Martin; and the Standard Missile-3 interceptor, produced by Raytheon.
The medium-range target missile was launched from Kauai, Hawaii. About three minutes later, the SM-3 intercepted it.
- Reuters
