[HOT] Japan Demonstrates Its New 24/7 Capability to Shoot Missiles in Hawaii

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KAUAI, Hawaii, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Riki Ellison, President and Founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA), praised the Japanese crew for their successful intercept test off of the coast of Hawaii on Tuesday evening. Ellison who was in Hawaii for the test had these remarks and observations:

"Against the early evening clear sky off of the coast of Kauai, Hawaii, the
Japanese Kongo class destroyer JS MYOKO (DDG-175) tracked and launched a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) block 1A missile and obliterated a target ballistic missile, unequivocally demonstrating their capability to destroy any current deployed North Korean ballistic missile threatening the people of Japan. This milestone event marks the debut of the third Japanese Kongo class destroyer with ballistic missile defense capability that will patrol and defend the seas surrounding Japan against the threat from North Korea to their homeland.

Having three Aegis-equipped ships with a ballistic missile defense capability allows the defensive forces of Japan to patrol and protect the people of Japan 24 hours a day and seven days as week."

"This also marks the first successful Aegis missile defense intercept of
President Obama's 'new missile defense architecture' announced September 16th of this year. The cooperative efforts with the Japanese government on the Aegis missile defense system are a major emphasis on the President's new missile defense plan. The Japanese are full and equal co-developers of the SM-3 block 2 missile which is the highly preferred 'end all' defensive missile by the Department of Defense that will defend Europe and the U.S. homeland under this Administration's promise to defend our nation against Iran by 2020."

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JDS Myōkō (DDG-175) is a Kongō class guided missile destroyer in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). Myōkō was named for Mount Myōkō.

She was laid down by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagasaki, Nagasaki on 8 April 1993, launched on 5 October 1994; and commissioned on 14 March 1996.

In January 2008, it was announced that Lockheed Martin received a US$40.4 million contract modification to provide Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMD) capability to the Myōkō, the third Kongō class destroyer to be so equipped.


The RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) is a ship based anti-ballistic missile used by the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. Although primarily designed as an anti-ballistic missile, the SM-3 has also been employed in an anti-satellite capacity against a satellite at the lower end of Low Earth orbit. The SM-3 is primarily used and tested by the United States Navy and also operated by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and in the future by the Royal Netherlands Navy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM-3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JDS_My%...C5%8D_(DDG-175)