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Archives by date > 2007 > December > 18th

Japanese Destroyer JS Kongo Intercepts Ballistic Missile

Dec 18, 2007 20:07 UTC

DDG-173 JS Kongo Pearl Harbor

JS Kongo into Pearl

In December 2003, Japan decided to upgrade their 4 existing Kongo Class AEGIS Destroyers and their SPY-1D radars to full AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense capability. Installations are scheduled for 2007 through 2010, and each installation will be followed by a flight test to demonstrate proper operation. They will fire the naval SM-3 Standard missile, which is under co-development as part of cooperation with the USA on missile defense. These ships will form the outer layer of Japan’s anti ballistic missile shield, with the land-based Patriot PAC-3 forming the point defense component.

It would appear that the first-of-class ship JS Kongo [DDG-173] is also the first Japanese ship to have the BMD upgrade installed. Cue the flight test, as JS Kongo becomes the first Japanese ship to destroy a ballistic missile. On Dec 17/07 at 12:05 pm Hawaii time, a medium-range ballistic missile target was fired from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii. JS Kongo responded by tracking it and launching an SM-3 Block 1A missile at 12:08 pm. At 12:11pm, it destroyed the missile about 100 miles above the ocean, achieving a first for Japan and the 12th successful intercept overall for the SM-3 ABM program. The American cruiser and ABM test veteran Lake Erie [CG 70] monitored the test, tracking the incoming missile with its own AEGIS BMD and exchanging information with a land-based THAAD ABM unit on Kauai.

The test reportedly cost about $50 million, and comes just days after a Japanese navy lieutenant commander was arrested for leaking classified information about Japan’s ballistic missile defense system. US MDA release [PDF] | US MDA video footage [Windows Media] | Lockheed Martin release | Raytheon release | Boeing | Honolulu Advertiser | Associated Press via MSNBC | Voice of America | China’s Xinhua | Times of India

ABM JS Kongo All-for-one 2007-12-17
Click to view full set

US Missile Defense Shifting Toward More Realistic Testing?

Dec 18, 2007 17:05 UTC

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JS Kongo fires SM-3 ABM

JS Kongo fires SM-3

In light of a recent ballistic missile intercept by a Japanese destroyer, US Missile Defense Agency chief Lt. Gen. Henry (Trey) Obering is quoted by Aviation Week as saying it is time to incorporate more realism into the MDA’s testing process, now that basic intercepts have racked up a string of successes:

“What we have to do now is to turn our attention to make sure we can fully wring out the system in a variety of operational and realistic scenarios. And that is what we will be doing over the next couple of years.”

There are both technical and political dimensions to that course of action.

Continue Reading… »

More Mastiffs for the UK

Dec 18, 2007 12:48 UTC

Cougar Mastiff Front-Top Afghanistan

Mastiff, Afghanistan

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced on Oct 8/07 that Britain will buy another 140 (170?) blast-resistant Mastiff vehicles for use in Iraq and Afghanistan. The MoD intends to finalize the deal for this additional set vehicles “in the next few weeks,” and has set aside GBP 100 million (about $200 million) for this purpose. This order would bring the total number of Mastiffs ordered to 248, with additional buys of blast-resistant vehicles scheduled via Britain’s MPPV program.

Mastiffs are derived from Force Protection’s popular “Cougar” blast-resistant vehicles, which serve with the US military. Variants of the Cougar also serve with or have been ordered for the militaries of Iraq (ILAV ‘Badger’), Canada (reportedly similar to the ‘Mastiff’ design), and Yemen (ILAV). For British Mastiff orders, NP Aerospace in Coventry integrates and up-armors delivered Cougars to create the finished Mastiff vehicle.

Richard North links to the Parliamentary debate that followed, and offers an interesting observation that tracks with parallel experiences in the USA:

Continue Reading… »
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