A Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) launched from Japanese Chokai. (MDA)

12:31 GMT, November 21, 2008 The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) confirmed that a Raytheon-build missile system failed to hit its mark in a missile-defence test firing from a Japanese warship on Wednesday. During this test, the Japanese guided-missile destroyer JS Chokai (DDG-176) fired a Raytheon-made SM3-Block 1A interceptor in an attempt to catch a dummy ballistic-missile fired from a range on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

The Japanese ship successfully detected, tracked and launched theSM-3, which however missed the target.

This test was to demonstrate Japanese deployed ballistic missile defense capability to protect its national security and the population of Japan from ballistic missile threats. The test represented a realistic live military exercise for Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) as the Chokai and its crew independently using the ship's Aegis SPY-1 radar to put together a firing solution for the SM3.

It was the second flight test of the missile from a Japanese vessel after a successful intercept in December 2007. That test was the 12th successful intercept for the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system's SM-3 since December of 2002.

There is no immediate explanation for the failed intercept attempt. Riki Ellison, Chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA) said that the cause of the missed intercept could likely be a possible jammed valve in one of the small rockets on the interceptor (Kill Vehicle) in the last few seconds as it didn't make the adjustments quick enough for an intended intercept. “In a real time situation, things happen that can't be controlled nor thought out prior,” he added. The best solution in a real situation is to have the ability to launch another interceptor after a miss from the Aegis ship or others in the vicinity. Ellison also said that the Sea Based Aegis SM-3 missile defense system is designed to take up to 4 or more shots at one ballistic missile target before it enters the atmosphere.


Raytheon said in a statement that the company would wait to comment on the test until the engineering analysis is complete, adding that the company remains confident in the system.

The Chokai will arrive back in Japan with a contingent of SM-3 missiles. This marks the second Japanese Aegis ship to be fitted with a ballistic missile defence system as last year the JS Kongo (DDG-173) was already made capable in Hawaii. In the next two years two more Japanese Aegis ships will deploy with their own sea based ballistic missile defences.

Along with these ships and their live inventory of SM3-Block 1A interceptors, the U.S. Navy has deployed in rotation several of its 18 Aegis missile defence capable ships in the Pacific Fleet to bolster a collective defence.