US-Japan missile defense test called successful(SM-3 with Japanese clamshell nosecone)

WASHINGTON (AFP) - An interceptor missile was fired over the Pacific in a successful test of a new nosecone developed as part of a US-Japan missile defense program, the US Missile Defense Agency said.

The modified SM-3 missile was launched by an Aegis cruiser off Hawaii and successfully deployed the new Japanese-designed nose cone at 2048 GMT, the agency said.

"This flight test mission is an important milestone in the project and is an example of the close coordination between the US and Japan in ballistic missile defense," the MDA said.

The test is the product of a US-Japanese missile defense research project begun in 1999 amid worries over North Korean missile and nuclear weapons development.

North Korea stunned the world in 1998 by firing a missile over the Japanese mainland into the Pacific.

On Wednesday North Korea carried out two new tests of missiles with a range of five kilometers (3.1 miles), Japan's Nippon Television Network said, quoting officials of the Japanese Defence Agency and public security authorities.

The US criticized the new tests, in which the ground-to-ground missiles reportedly fell inside North Korea.

"As we have continued to point out, North Korea's missile program and activities are a threat not only to the region, but the international community at large," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

The new US-Japan missile test Wednesday improved upon the delivery mechanism of the so-called "kill vehicle" that is supposed to intercept and destroy a target enemy missile in space.

In previous tests, the missile had to perform certain maneuvers to deploy the nose cone which contains the kill vehicle.

But designers modified the nosecone so that it would open like a clam, enabling the kill vehicle to be deployed without the missile maneuvers.

Instead simulated target data was fed into the computers of Aegis weapon system aboard the USS Lake Erie, the cruiser that fired the interceptor missile.

In this test, the nosecone didn't contain a kill vehicle but rather instruments that registered temperature and shock readings during the flight. A camera in the nosecone recorded the opening and closing of the clam shell.

The nosecone was deployed 55 miles (90 kilometers) over the Pacific and about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands.

In December, after six years of research, the Japanese government officially approved a plan to develop the missile defence system with the United States.

Missile defense cooperation has been a key element of a revitalized military alliance between the two countries.

The cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi approved a three-billion-yen (26-million-dollar) budget in the financial year for development costs as requested by the country's Defense Agency.

Thanks for the ping.

No mention of the word China at all.

It has been 10 years this month since the communists shot missiles at either end of Taiwan in an overt effort to terrorize.

Shortly after that greater cooperperation between japan and the US in missile defense began. The communists said if the US and Japan continue on their joint missile defense it would be a last straw. They also made clear if the US and Japan did missile defense that the communists could not compete there so in response they would increase proliferation of WMD and delivery as their means of responding.

We see what's happened in the past years.

Hu Jintao was one of the architects of their proliferation in response to missile defense -- now he is head of state.

Again, thanks for the timely and important post.

From Reuters:

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Posted 03/08/06 17:56

Experimental U.S.-Japan Missile Tip Passes First Test

By JIM WOLF, REUTERS

An experimental missile tip, designed by Japan and the United States in a landmark missile-defense cooperation effort, worked without apparent hitch on March 8 in its first flight test, the Pentagon said.

In a drill off Hawaii’s Kauai island, a U.S. cruiser with an advanced Aegis weapon system successfully launched a Standard Missile (SM)-3 tipped with the innovative "nosecone" at a simulated target, the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency said.

The new hardware is designed to open like a clam shell to more quickly release the so-called kill vehicle, which is built to dart into the path of an oncoming warhead and destroy it through collision.

By contrast, in its standard configuration, the SM-3 missile must maneuver to eject the barrel-shaped kill vehicle -- a tricky process known as "pitch and ditch."

The component research on the missile tip was split 50-50 between Raytheon Co. of Waltham, Massachusetts, and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. under a joint U.S.-Japanese research program begun in August 1999. Raytheon builds the SM-3 missile.

The test was "an important milestone in the project and is an example of the close coordination between the U.S. and Japan in ballistic missile defense," said Chris Taylor, a Pentagon spokesman. "The advanced nosecone worked as planned."

Japan is a key partner in the multibillion-dollar U.S. drive for a layered shield against ballistic missiles. Its interest soared after North Korea fired a multistage Taepodong 1 missile across the Sea of Japan on Aug. 31, 1998, its first such ballistic missile test in more than five years.

China has declared that Japan’s missile defense plans could undermine the regional power balance and spark a fresh arms race.

In December 2003, Japan announced it would join the United States in fielding a layered anti-missile bulwark, using both Aegis-equipped destroyers and upgraded Patriot PAC-3 anti-missile systems.

Among its related steps, Tokyo is modifying the first of up to four Kongo-class destroyers with the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system, linchpin of the sea-based part of ballistic missile defense.

That work is being done by Lockheed Martin Corp. under a three-year, $124 million contract. Lockheed, the Pentagon’s largest supplier, has integrated the experimental SM-3 missile nosecone into the Aegis system, which is a maritime weapon of choice for South Korea, Norway and Spain, in addition to the United States and Japan. Australia is also buying it.

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