A Japanese navy destroyer successfully monitored the course of a ballistic missile fired Thursday during an exercise off of Hawaii, the Honolulu Advertiser reported (see GSN, Nov. 3).
The JDS Chokai combined its radar data with information gathered from a shore base and additional vessels to determine a trajectory to intercept the target, which was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. No attempt was made to intercept the target.
The Chokai, Japan’s second warship equipped with Aegis missile defense technology, is expected to target a separating missile in a live-fire exercise later this month, U.S. Missile Defense Agency spokesman Chris Taylor said (Diana Leone, Honolulu Advertiser, Nov. 3).