Japan succeeds in ballistic missile intercept test off Hawaii+

TOKYO, Oct. 28 Kyodo - Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force on Wednesday successfully intercepted a mock ballistic missile with a Standard Missile-3 interceptor launched from an Aegis-equipped destroyer during a test conducted off Hawaii, the Defense
Ministry said.

According to the ministry, the SM-3 fired by the Myoukou intercepted the mock
missile in space four minutes after it was launched from a U.S. military
facility at 6 p.m. Tuesday local time.
The Myoukou was not notified of the target missile's launch, just like in a
previous test conducted in November last year.
Japan conducted its first successful SM-3 test in December 2007 using another
MSDF Aegis destroyer, the Kongou. A second test conducted last year failed when
the interceptor, launched from the Choukai, lost track of the target.
Under Japan's missile defense plan, the sea-launched SM-3 will be used to
intercept a ballistic missile outside of the earth's atmosphere. If it misses
the target, the ground-launched Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile will be
used to shoot down the target as it reenters the atmosphere.
In two previous tests, PAC-3 interceptors successfully hit their targets.
==Kyodo