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Japan is conducting a missile test off the coast of Hawaii on Tuesday morning. Japan’s Defense Ministry said the Maritime Self-Defense Force will fire the interceptor missiles from the Aegis destroyer Kongo at sea to hit mid-range ballistic missiles fired by the U.S. from Kauai Island, Hawaii. The interceptor missiles should hit the targets in the atmosphere at an altitude of more than 100 km. Except for the U.S., Japan is the first country to conduct an SM-3 test.
Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun said since an earlier SM-3 test by the U.S. failed, Japan conducted virtual tests in November in cooperation with the Americans. The Japanese Defense Ministry puts the chances of the current test’s success at 90 percent. Japan's missile defense is a two-step system comprising sea-to-air and ground-to-air interceptors. SM-3 interceptors are fired at ballistic missiles in the atmosphere. If these fail, ground-based Patriot Advanced Capacity-3 interceptors are launched.
The ministry will deploy a Kongo at the Sasebo base in January. Four Aegis destroyers will be placed in the East Sea and the capital area of Yokozuka by 2010. PAC3 interceptors were already put in place in Saitama and Chiba in March and November this year. Japan is to deploy additional PAC3 missiles in 16 military units in 11 areas by 2012.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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