Posted on 09/17/2008 8:18:37 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Japan shoots down 'ballistic' missile in interceptor test
WHITE SANDS, New Mexico, Sept. 17 KYODO
Japan's Air Self-Defense Force successfully shot down a mock ballistic missile Wednesday in Japan's first test of a U.S.-developed land-to-air missile interception system since the country started deploying it late last year, ASDF officials said.
The firing of two Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors the ASDF said was a success marked the end of a series of tests on key capabilities of a nearly 1 trillion yen missile shield Japan is trying to complete by around fiscal 2010.
The ASDF conducted the test at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in the United States.
The PAC-3 missile test was part of Japan's two-layer missile shield using the sea-based Standard Missile-3 interceptor in space and the land-based PAC-3 missile in Earth's atmosphere.
The PAC-3 missile is designed to shoot a ballistic missile that has escaped the SM-3 interceptor in space.
In the test Wednesday, the ASDF tracked a mock ballistic missile launched by the U.S. military about 120 kilometers away by radar and a PAC-3 missile fired from the interception system hit the target, the officers said.
The purpose of the missile test is to check the capabilities of the PAC-3 missile itself, as well as other aspects of the whole PAC-3 system such as radars, the missile-launcher and the controller, the officers said earlier.
The ASDF is also trying to collect data on how far the debris of the PAC-3 missiles and the target could scatter after a mid-air explosion. The Japanese Defense Ministry envisages using PAC-3 interceptors over towns, the officers said.
The ASDF brought most of the equipment it used in the 1.54 billion yen test from Japan to the U.S. desert site including missiles, radar and the launcher.
The ASDF has already deployed PAC-3 missiles at five ASDF bases including those near Tokyo and plans to station them at six more bases nationwide.
Japan successfully tested the SM-3 interceptor system involving a high-tech Aegis destroyer in December near Hawaii.
==Kyodo
Ping!
In related news, Putin just needed a fresh change of underwear.
I thought this was impossible without Obi Wan Kenobi shooting them down with his mind.
Liberals and Democrats have been telling us for 40 years that this is impossible.
“It’s like trying to hit a bullet with a bullet,” they say.
“It’s a Star Wars fantasy,” they say.
This video should be aired by the McCain campaign. Although how you would handle the “approve of this message” blip at the end might be problematic.
I think alot more testing is required. Looking forward to the next target practice “skeet” opportunities, as supplied by [ailing] Kim.
GRRREAT news! Thanks for the post. Thanks for the link, LSUfan. Bad news, but many great comments at the link.
Yup, arm Japan & S. Korea (two others countries that nee to take on their own self defense. If Pooty Poot soiled his bloomers, I am wondering what kind of “movement” there was from the crowd in Beijing?
This is exactly the system the Clintons tried to stop.
Why have a jedi when you already have Chuck Norris?
“Liberals and Democrats have been telling us for 40 years that this is impossible.”
As an EE who worked on some of the very earliest “Start Wars” technology during the Reagan years, it DID seem impossible then.
With advances in technology, I no longer hold that opinion. It’s still a very difficult task, but we now have signal processing capability thousands of times more powerful than we did then, in packages ten times smaller.
I am constantly amazed at how far we have come in 20 years!
Meanwhile back in the USofA will be sticking our collective heads in the sand.
/S
Chuck Norris just has to stare at a tin pot dictator to make him suffer from missile erector dysfunction syndrome (EDS).
“Meanwhile back in the USofA will be sticking our collective heads in the sand.”
LIke the Manchu royals in the twilight years of the dynasty, these fools think their culture will prevail in the end.
I started thinking the exact same thing while watching. Here are some ideas that came to mind:
“... I’m John McCain and am required by law to say I approve of this message, even thought I don’t.”
or
“..I’m John McCain, and that stupid Feingold law requires me to lie and say, “I approve of this message.”
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