Post by: Headless Thompson Gunner on December 17, 2007, 06:39:06 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071218/ts_nm/missile_japan_usa_dc
Japan intercepts missile in milestone test
By Jim Wolf 1 hour, 19 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Japanese navy destroyer shot down a dummy ballistic missile in a test about 100 miles
above the Pacific on Monday, a first for a U.S. ally, Japanese and U.S. forces said.
The $55 million test interception at 7:12 a.m. Tuesday Japan time (5:12 p.m. EDT) followed years of growing U.S.-Japanese missile-defense ties, sparked by North Korea's firing of a Taepo Dong 1 ballistic missile over Japan on August 31, 1998.
"This was a monumental event in the Japan-U.S. security relationship," a senior Japanese Defense Ministry official told a joint news conference with U.S. Missile Defense Agency chief Lt. General Henry Obering on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
Television pictures showed the interceptor soaring through the sky, leaving a grey vapour trail. Images from a sensor showed two objects colliding, and U.S. and Japanese military personnel were shown cheering and clapping after the test.
The interceptor was fired by the Kongo, the first of four Japanese destroyers due to be outfitted to counter missiles that could carry chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.
By intercepting a missile similar in speed and size to those in North Korea's arsenal, "Japan has proven its capability to defend and protect their country from North Korean missiles," said Riki Ellison, a prominent missile-defense advocate who monitored the test.
Japan's Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba welcomed the success, but warned that work remained to be done.
"We are taking one step at a time. Just because it worked this time doesn't mean we can rely on it 100 percent," he told reporters in Tokyo, adding that the military would continue to try to improve reliability.
The test involved a shipboard detection and tracking tool called Aegis built by Lockheed Martin Corp and the Standard Missile-3 interceptor produced by Raytheon Co.
The medium-range target missile was launched from a U.S. range on Kauai. The SM-3 intercepted it about three minutes later, a joint U.S.-Japanese announcement said.
The Kongo, armed with its SM-3 interceptors, will return to Japan to complement ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles already installed in Japan.
SHIELD AGAINST IRAN
The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency is building a multibillion-dollar layered shield it says is designed to defeat warheads that could be fired by Iran or North Korea. Japan is the leading U.S. partner in the effort, involved in joint research and development, including for a more advanced interceptor.
In addition, the U.S. and Japanese navies have worked out common tactics, techniques and procedures for their Aegis-equipped ships to shoot down enemy missiles, the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet said last week.
Such cooperation has angered Beijing, which fears it could help the United States defend Taiwan if China used force to try to bring the self-governing island under mainland rule.
The Kongo "is emblematic of a complex weave of U.S. and Japanese anti-missile capabilities," said Paul Giarra, a former Pentagon senior country director for Japan who inaugurated a U.S.-Japan missile-defense working group in the early 1990s.
"Any system that can check China's growing ballistic missile clout is problematic for Beijing," he added.
The test comes at a problematic time for Defense relations between Tokyo and Washington, who have only just resolved a dispute over funding of U.S. bases in Japan. Tokyo's powerful opposition party also forced Japan to halt a marine refuelling operation in support of U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan.
Last week a Japanese naval officer was arrested on suspicion of leaking information about the Aegis system, although the data does not appear to have been passed outside the military.
(Additional reporting by Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo; Editing by Alan Elsner and Mike Miller)
Post by: GigaBuist on December 17, 2007, 08:21:09 PM
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Now we can withdraw all of our troops from Japan, and maybe even from all of Asia, and return to a sensible isolationist foreign policy.
Isolationism is a horrible idea. We'd have to errect trade barriers that would keep everybody out of our business. That means very little imports and very little exports. It's also a silly way to try and control other countries. Just look a Cuba: Castro is still in power, they're still communist, and our best hope at ending that (under current doctrine) is for the damned zombie to finally die.
Now, a non-interventionist policy on the other hand... that might work.
HTG, if you're going to become a Ron Paul guy you'll need to whip out a dictionary here and there. Words have rather specific meanings and sometimes words that look really close to one another aren't exactly the same thing.
Post by: Headless Thompson Gunner on December 17, 2007, 08:36:41 PM
Isolationism does two things for us. First, you can't have free international trade unless you have nominal global peace. Since we don't want to ensure global peace any longer, we can't really have free international trade. So, isolationism.
Second, our government is entirely owned by global evil corporate conglomerates. If we don't cut them off at our borders, how are we going to take back our sovereignty?
This is all so terribly confusing. Please help.
Post by: Finch on December 18, 2007, 02:03:22 AM
Since we don't want to ensure global peace any longer, we can't really have free international trade. So, isolationism.
Yeah, because we are really doing a great job at making a peaceful world. You know, with all the invasions and random bombings and all.
Post by: 280plus on December 18, 2007, 03:24:08 AM
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Just look a Cuba: Castro is still in power, they're still communist, and our best hope at ending that (under current doctrine) is for the damned zombie to finally die.
I'll bet he did die, they hollowed his ass out and stuck in a robot to go through the motions. I mean, he's been looking mighty green for quite a few years now. They can do that you know. 
Post by: vaskidmark on December 18, 2007, 04:09:32 AM
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The interceptor was fired by the Kongo, the first of four Japanese destroyers due to be outfitted to counter missiles that could carry chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.
I thought MacArthur wrote their Constitution such that they cannot have atomic/nuclear stuff. So how did this slip in?
But then Mac also made sure that Japan would never again attempt to expand the empire by limiting them to a national defense force instead of having a standing army. I guess that the presence of Japanese troops in Iraq is just a way of ensuring that the home islands are safe.
I applaud anything that will protect Japan from the maniacal actions of North Korea. But there just seems to be so much more than this happening.
I'm going to check the fit of my tinfoil hat.
stay safe.
skidmark
Post by: Sergeant Bob on December 18, 2007, 04:25:21 AM
Isolationism implies cutting off foreign trade, which is a good thing. Right?
Isolationism does two things for us. First, you can't have free international trade unless you have nominal global peace. Since we don't want to ensure global peace any longer, we can't really have free international trade. So, isolationism.
Second, our government is entirely owned by global evil corporate conglomerates. If we don't cut them off at our borders, how are we going to take back our sovereignty?
This is all so terribly confusing. Please help.
Isolationism does two things for us. First, you can't have free international trade unless you have nominal global peace. Since we don't want to ensure global peace any longer, we can't really have free international trade. So, isolationism.
Second, our government is entirely owned by global evil corporate conglomerates. If we don't cut them off at our borders, how are we going to take back our sovereignty?
This is all so terribly confusing. Please help.
Wow! An epiphany! If we cut off international trade, we could keep all the jobs right here in the U.S.! No more exporting jobs to China and the unions can once again rule the country!
Post by: Tallpine on December 18, 2007, 06:18:59 AM
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Quote
The interceptor was fired by the Kongo, the first of four Japanese destroyers due to be outfitted to counter missiles that could carry chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.
I thought MacArthur wrote their Constitution such that they cannot have atomic/nuclear stuff. So how did this slip in?
The interceptor was fired by the Kongo, the first of four Japanese destroyers due to be outfitted to counter missiles that could carry chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.
I thought MacArthur wrote their Constitution such that they cannot have atomic/nuclear stuff. So how did this slip in?
Reading comprehension is important ... the Japanese are trying to defend against nuclear missles.
I must admit though - I had to read it twice the first time to make sure what it meant
Post by: Manedwolf on December 18, 2007, 06:34:48 AM
Post by: vaskidmark on December 18, 2007, 12:02:20 PM
Quote
Quote
The interceptor was fired by the Kongo, the first of four Japanese destroyers due to be outfitted to counter missiles that could carry chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.
I thought MacArthur wrote their Constitution such that they cannot have atomic/nuclear stuff. So how did this slip in?
The interceptor was fired by the Kongo, the first of four Japanese destroyers due to be outfitted to counter missiles that could carry chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.
I thought MacArthur wrote their Constitution such that they cannot have atomic/nuclear stuff. So how did this slip in?
Reading comprehension is important ... the Japanese are trying to defend against nuclear missles.
I must admit though - I had to read it twice the first time to make sure what it meant
Oops! Seems the tinfoil was pressing down on my head a bit to heavily. Either read too fast or just ignored the "counter" part.
I'm still curious about what the Japanese tweaked in the concept and design that brought them sucess while "good old American know-how" failed a while back when the USA was trying to build an anti-balistic missle defense program.
stay safe.
skidmark
Post by: Tallpine on December 18, 2007, 01:22:26 PM
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I'm still curious about what the Japanese tweaked in the concept and design that brought them sucess while "good old American know-how" failed a while back when the USA was trying to build an anti-balistic missle defense program.
Probably the little guy piloting the missle. I hear it's getting harder to find volunteers these days, though ....
Post by: Headless Thompson Gunner on December 18, 2007, 03:53:23 PM
I'm still curious about what the Japanese tweaked in the concept and design that brought them sucess while "good old American know-how" failed a while back when the USA was trying to build an anti-balistic missle defense program.
It looks like Japan's anti-missile system is entirely American. Aegis, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Patriot 3, it's got Uncle Sam written all over it.
Post by: Manedwolf on December 18, 2007, 03:58:02 PM
I'm still curious about what the Japanese tweaked in the concept and design that brought them sucess while "good old American know-how" failed a while back when the USA was trying to build an anti-balistic missle defense program.
It looks like Japan's anti-missile system is entirely American. Aegis, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Patriot 3, it's got Uncle Sam written all over it.They still could have tweaked it a bit. They did serious upgrades to the avionics of the F-16s we sold them.
Post by: Matthew Carberry on December 18, 2007, 09:24:48 PM
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Japanese navy destroyer shot down a dummy ballistic missile in a test about 100 miles above the Pacific on Monday, a first for a U.S. ally, Japanese and U.S. forces said.
How did they get the destroyer 100 miles up?
This is the technology they were really testing.
Post by: roo_ster on December 19, 2007, 02:32:38 AM
Post by: seeker_two on December 19, 2007, 11:04:56 AM
I'm still curious about what the Japanese tweaked in the concept and design that brought them sucess while "good old American know-how" failed a while back when the USA was trying to build an anti-balistic missle defense program.
It looks like Japan's anti-missile system is entirely American. Aegis, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Patriot 3, it's got Uncle Sam written all over it.They still could have tweaked it a bit. They did serious upgrades to the avionics of the F-16s we sold them.
They sure did.....
Post by: 280plus on December 19, 2007, 01:14:54 PM