Updated at 7:52 p.m., Monday, December 17, 2007
Japanese missile test successful off Kauai
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
At 12:05 p.m., the target missile was launched from Barking Sands in Kaua'i. The destroyer JS Kongo tracked the trajectory in the Pacific Missile Range Facility.
At 12:08 p.m. a Standard Missile-3 was fired from the Japanese ship, and three minutes later, reaching speeds of thousands of miles per hour, the interceptor slammed into the target about 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean.
The Missile Defense Agency called the intercept a "major milestone," and said it marked the first time that an Allied Navy ship had successfully destroyed a ballistic missile target with the sea-based engagement capability provided by the Aegis air defense system.
"Today's intercept truly paves the way for Japan to deploy a sea-based ballistic missile defense system," said Ed Miyashiro, Raytheon Missile System's vice president. Raytheon helped build the Standard Missile-3.
