HONOLULU: The Japanese military destroyed a mid-range ballistic missile in space with an interceptor fired from a ship off Hawaii in a test on Monday.

The US military has conducted similar successful tests in the past, but it is the first time a US ally has shot down a ballistic missile from a ship at sea.

The interceptor fired by the JS Kongo knocked out the target warhead about 160 km above the Pacific Ocean, said the US Missile Defense Agency, which carried out the test together with the Japanese and US navies.

Tokyo has invested heavily in missile defense since the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) test-fired a long-range missile over northern Japan in 1998. It has installed missile tracking technology on several navy ships and has plans to equip three with interceptors to add to the Kongo's newly demonstrated capability.

Japan is also developing an advanced nose cone for the Standard Missile-3 interceptor used on Monday.

Experts say the test target resembled the DPRK's Rodong missile.

Japan's top government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura hailed the result.

"This is very significant for Japanese national security," Machimura said at a regular press briefing in Tokyo. "The Defense Ministry and the government have been putting efforts into the development of ballistic missile defense, and we will continue to install the needed equipment and conduct exercises."

The Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, run by the US Navy, fired the target missile into the sky on Monday morning Hawaii time. The Kongo tracked the missile, then fired its interceptor three minutes later, destroying the target, the Missile Defense Agency said in a news release.

Agencies

(China Daily 12/19/2007 page1)