<div id="subtitle">Japanese naval destroyer intercepts ballistic missile in test off Hawaii</div><div><p>A Japanese navy ship intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile in a test off Hawaii, the U.S. and Japanese militaries said Tuesday.</p><p>The drill was the third such test for Japan, which began investing in a U.S.-developed ballistic missile defense system after North Korea test-fired a long-range missile over northern Japan in 1998.</p><p>The U.S. fired the test's target from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, and the JS Myoko destroyer detected the target, tracked it, then fired an SM-3 interceptor missile from its deck.</p><p>The interceptor hit the target in space about 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean, the militaries said in a joint news release.</p><p>The target's warhead separated from its booster rocket, so the interceptor had to distinguish between the two parts and hit the warhead.</p><p>Two U.S. Navy vessels based at Pearl Harbor, the USS Paul Hamilton and the USS Lake Erie, tracked the target alongside the Myoko.</p><p>The SM-3 interceptors fired from ships are designed to intercept missiles midway through their flights. The U.S. is developing other systems to shoot down missiles in their initial and final stages.</p><p>The Myoko is the third of four Japanese ships to be upgraded with ballistic missile defense technology.</p><p>The second, the JS Chokai, participated in a test off Hawaii last November but an unidentified problem prevented its interceptor from shooting down the target. An investigation is ongoing.</p><p>The first Japanese attempt, from the JS Kongo in 2007, was successful.</p><p>U.S. ships have intercepted target missiles multiple times in similar tests. The U.S.-created Aegis ballistic missile defense system is used by both nations but it's been modified slightly to suit Japanese ship specifications.</p><p>Japan and the U.S. are also jointly developing future upgrades to the SM-3 missile.</p><p>In addition to the Aegis-sea based systems, Japan has deployed four PAC-3 missile defense units — each including several launchers, a radar vehicle and a control station — around Tokyo.</p><p>Japan plans to deploy the units at several more bases by March 2011.</p><p>The land-based PAC-3 anti-missile batteries are designed to shoot down missiles in their final stage of flight.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=62115259&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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