Destroyer's missile defense system clears test despite failure

TOKYO, Dec. 16 Kyodo - Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force said Tuesday the U.S.-developed
anti-ballistic missile system built into a high-tech Aegis destroyer has passed
its quality test despite its failure to shoot down a mock ballistic missile in
space last month.

The Choukai is the second such destroyer in the MSDF fleet whose missile shield
equipment has been certified as serviceable, following the similarly equipped
Aegis destroyer Kongou.
The MSDF equipment certification commission determined Monday that the
Choukai's Standard Missile-3 interceptor launcher and other pieces of equipment
performed as designed in the test and that the trouble was simply with an
interceptor's warhead, the MSDF said.
On Tuesday, however, MSDF Chief of Staff Adm. Keiji Akahoshi noted that the
destroyer's anti-ballistic missile system would not be perfect as long as an
interceptor failed to hit the flying target.
''We want to press the U.S. side to see the latest trouble resolved quickly and
see that reflected (in missiles). But because this concerns relations with the
United States, some things can't be helped,'' the admiral told a news
conference.
On Nov. 19, the Choukai test-fired an SM-3 interceptor near the island of
Kauai, but the interceptor lost track of the target seconds before it was
supposed to hit it.
A probe is under way, mostly by the U.S. side, to determine what went wrong
with the warhead, which was homing in on the mock target with an infrared
sensor after the missile went into space.
The test followed a successful first test by Japan of the ship-to-space missile
launched by the destroyer Kongou, also over Hawaii, in December last year.
Under Japan's nearly 1 trillion yen missile shield project, two more
Aegis-equipped destroyers -- the Myoukou and the Kirishima -- are slated to be
refurbished by the end of March 2011 with SM-3 missile capabilities.
The latest test, conducted jointly with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, cost
around 6 billion yen excluding the cost of the SM-3 interceptor.
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.
==Kyodo