A Shot Heard in North Korea

Dear Members and Friends, 

Against the back drop of the Kauai Eternal Veteran Memorial & Missile Defense Viewing site at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Barking Sands, Hawaii, a three-stage medium-range target missile holding a warhead, which contained a few hundred pounds of explosives, shot brilliantly across the Hawaiian sky. The target missile traveled west rising up to 130 miles up in space with a maximum distance of approximately 900 miles.

 

A few hundred miles west of Kauai, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) destroyer JS Kirishima (DDG-174) patrolled the waters defending an area of ocean another few hundred miles further west. The JS Kirishima is one of only four Japanese Kongo class destroyers equipped with Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (Aegis BMD).

 

Without assistance, the Japanese crew of the JS Kirishima tracked the speeding target with the ship’s AN/SPY-1 radar and processed a firing solution to intercept the incoming missile. Once a firing solution had been achieved, the combat systems crew of the JS Kirishima launched a U.S. made Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block 1A missile at the target.

Joint Japan-U.S. Missile Defense Flight Test Successful

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and the United States Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced the successful completion of an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) intercept flight test, in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, off the coast of Kauai in Hawaii.

The event marked the fourth time that a JMSDF ship has engaged a ballistic missile target, including three successful intercepts, with the sea-based midcourse engagement capability provided by Aegis BMD.

The JFTM-4 test event verified the newest engagement capability of the Japan Aegis BMD configuration of the recently upgraded Japanese destroyer, JS KIRISHIMA. At approximately 5:06 p.m. (HST), 12:06 p.m. Tokyo time on Oct. 29, 2010, a separating 1,000 km class ballistic missile target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii.

North and South Korea exchange fire across border

North and South Korean troops exchanged fire Friday across their tense border, Seoul’s military said, an incident which heightened tensions before next month’s G20 summit of world leaders in Seoul.

The North fired two bullets at a frontline guard post at 5:26 pm (0826 GMT) and South Korean soldiers immediately fired three shots in return from a machine gun, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

“There were no more shots afterwards. We are now closely watching their movements,” a spokesman told AFP, adding it has strengthened defence readiness.

He said no South Koreans were hurt in the incident near the Demilitarised Zone dividing the peninsula.

Guthertz welcomes missile defense system for Guam

Sen. Judith Guthertz says she welcomes word that a missile defense system for Guam is in the works.

To residents of the continental United States, the possibility of a ballistic missile strike anywhere near them is a pretty remote possibility,” Guthertz stated in a press release. But on Guam, “a trigger-happy and nuclear armed regime in nearby North Korea” has already demonstrated that this American territory in Asia is within its range, according to Guthertz, who is seeking re-election.

Since the announcement of the $15 billion Guam military buildup, those living within the potential bulls eye have wondered how they are supposed to be protected in the event of a shooting war, said Guthertz.

Japan says succeeds in missile shield test

A Japanese naval destroyer fired an interceptor missile to shoot down a mock ballistic missile off Hawaii in a test of Japan’s missile-defense system, the defense ministry said Friday.

  The U.S. Missile Defense Agency in a statement called the test a “significant milestone in the growing cooperation between Japan and the U.S. in the area of missile defense.”

The target was launched from a U.S. navy facility on Hawaii at 0306 GMT, the Japanese defense ministry said in a statement.

The destroyer Kirishima, equipped with the Aegis radar system, detected the target and fired a SM-3 interceptor missile three minutes later, the statement added. The interceptor struck the target in outer space

U.S. and Japan stage successful missile-defense test

A Japanese naval destroyer equipped with a Lockheed Martin Corp Aegis ballistic missile defense system carried out a successful flight-intercept test on Thursday in a “milestone” of growing cooperation, Japanese and U.S. forces announced.

The test focused attention on mounting U.S. missile defense ties with Tokyo even as Washington urges its NATO allies to join in a NATO-wide shield prompted largely by concerns over Iran.

Japan’s interest in missile shields jumped in August 1998 when North Korea test-fired a Taepo Dong-1 ballistic missile that flew over Japan before falling in the Pacific.

The intercept test, about 100 miles above Hawaiian waters, marked the fourth time a Japan Maritime Self-Defense force had engaged a ballistic missile target, including three successful intercepts.

It “verified the newest engagement capability” of the ballistic missile defense upgrade of the JS Kirishima, the U.S.-Japanese statement said. The ship is the fourth Japanese destroyer to be upgraded for this mission

Iran to stage major drill in November: report

The Iranian Army and Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) will stage a joint major military drill in November to display the country’s modern defensive capabilities, the local satellite Press TV reported on Thursday.

The drill will be held across the country in four phases and Iran’s armed forces will take part in the air, ground and sea exercise and various defensive equipment including tanks, personnel carriers, ballistic missiles and vessels will be put on display, the report said.

Meanwhile, different kinds of radar systems, modern anti-aircraft missile systems, anti-cruise missile cannon, anti-armor and electronic warfare systems, fighter bombers as well as destroyers will also be showcased in the drill, according to the report.

South Korea favors short-range missiles

South Korea said it favors a joint U.S-Korean missile defense system rather than the United States-led plan involving the purchase of longer range missiles.

South Korea’s anti-missile system, under the Korea Air Missile Defense program, is designed to protect the south from short-range missiles fired by North Korea while the U.S. system uses missiles to protect against medium- and long-range ballistic missile threats.

“South Korea and the U.S. will discuss intelligence sharing and operation of means regarding the missile defense system so as to protect the Korean Peninsula from the threats of North Korean nuclear weapons and its weapons of mass destruction at the Extended Deterrence Policy Committee,” the ministry said in a statement.

U.S. reviewing missile program with Germany, Italy

A prime multibillion-dollar example of U.S.-German-Italian cooperation for the battlefield of the future is facing an uncertain future.

Armament directors from the three countries were to discuss the status of the Medium Extended Air Defense System, or MEADS, in Brussels this week among other things, even as overarching missile-defense issues loom larger on NATO’s agenda.

“We have to look at our portfolio for air defense and see where there’s overlap, where there’s duplication,” Malcolm O’Neill, the U.S. Army’s top arms buyer, said in an interview on Wednesday.

U.S. Laser Fails to Switch On

Riki Ellison, Founder and Chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA), www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org, has commented on the results of the recent airborne laser test bed missile test out at Point Mugu, California last week where the laser failed to switch on.  Ellison is one of the foremost lay experts in the field of missile defense in the world. His comments include the following:

“Last week, in the skies off Point Mugu, California, a 747 equipped with solid state lasers successfully tracked and targeted at the speed of light a short-range ballistic missile target launched from a sea-based barge; however it failed to switch on and engage its megawatt class lethal chemical laser to destroy the boosting missile.