WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Japan shoots down dummy ballistic missile in test
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-18 14:33

TOKYO -- Japan's military successfully shot down a dummy ballistic missile in a joint test with the United States, the Defence Ministry said on Thursday, days after reports that North Korea had tested new missile engines.

A US soldier stands next to the launcher of a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) system in a file photo. [Agencies]

The joint test was the latest step in Tokyo's missile defence strategy launched after North Korea shocked Japan in 1998 by firing a ballistic missile over the country into the Pacific Ocean.

The Japanese air force shot down the dummy missile using Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) interceptors in a ground-to-air test at White Sands, New Mexico, on Wednesday, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

Japan is the only country apart from the United States to have tested a launch of Raytheon's and Lockheed Martin's PAC-3 system, the main components of which Japanese firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd produces under licence, the ministry said.

Japan first introduced its own PAC-3 interceptors, which are designed to hit missiles in the downward phase of flight, at Iruma airbase north of Tokyo last year.

It has also put SM-3 missiles aboard warships that are capable of shooting down ballistic missiles in the mid-stage of flight when they are in space.

A Japanese navy destroyer successfully shot down a dummy missile 160 km (100 miles) above the Pacific in another joint test with the United States in December.