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2ND LD: Japan fails in antiballistic missile test in space+
[November 20, 2008]

2ND LD: Japan fails in antiballistic missile test in space+


(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) TOKYO, Nov. 20_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: UPDATING WITH PRESS CONFERENCES BY VICE MINISTER, SDF CHIEF)

Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force failed in a test to shoot down a mock ballistic missile in space with a U.S.-developed interceptor launched from a destroyer off Hawaii on Wednesday, Vice Defense Minister Kohei Masuda said Thursday.

The high-tech Aegis destroyer Choukai test-fired a Standard Missile-3 interceptor near the island of Kauai at 4:21 p.m. local time, but the interceptor lost sight of the target seconds before it was supposed to hit it, the top bureaucrat of the Defense Ministry told a press conference in Tokyo.



Self-Defense Forces chief of staff Adm. Takashi Saito told a separate press conference that the ministry is looking into why the interceptor failed at the final stage, adding that a probe is under way in cooperation with the United States.

Saito still described the test as "a success overall," noting that the missile defense system worked at every stage except interception.


The test followed a successful first test by Japan of the ship-to-space missile launched by the MSDF Aegis destroyer Kongou, also over Hawaii, in December last year.

Unlike the previous test, the crew on the Choukai was not notified in advance as to exactly when the mock missile would be launched into space.

But the SDF chief stopped short of commenting on whether the lack of advance notice had something to do with the failed interception in space.

Masuda dismissed the possibility that the failure of the latest test could immediately affect the current plan to build a missile shield over Japan, under which two more Aegis-equipped destroyers will be upgraded by the end of fiscal 2010 through March 2011 to enable them to launch SM-3 missiles.

"Overall, it (the failure) will not affect the schedule for creating a missile defense system," Masuda said.

The mock target was launched from a U.S. military facility in Hawaii.

The ministry conducted the latest test, which cost around 6 billion yen, after the Choukai, commissioned in 1998, underwent a refit to enable it to launch the SM-3 missile.

Japan has been keen to develop a missile shield with the help of the United States particularly since the August 1998 launch of a ballistic missile by North Korea, part of which flew over the Japanese archipelago before falling into the Pacific off Japan.

The SM-3 interceptor system covers the upper range of Japan's two-layer missile defense shield and is designed to intercept incoming ballistic missiles outside of the earth's atmosphere.

The ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability 3, which is responsible for the lower range of the shield, is designed to intercept incoming ballistic missiles missed by the SM-3.

In September, the ministry successfully conducted its first PAC-3 test at a missile range in the United States.

Copyright ? 2008 Kyodo News International, Inc.

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