I wonder why US invests in such junk
Although both this year's and last year's targets were medium-range missiles, this year the target's booster and warhead were designed to separate more slowly. That gave the interceptor missile less time to distinguish between the booster and the warhead when it was homing in on the target.
U.S. Navy ships and the Missile Defense Agency have together conducted over a dozen successful ballistic missile intercepts in tests off Hawaii. Wednesday's test was a chance for the MSDF to verify the technology on board its own ship.
"This is a test for our allies to help build their confidence and understanding of their system," Mary Keifer, Lockheed Martin's director for international ballistic missile defense programs, said before the test.
The JFTM-1 test event on 18 December 2007 verified the new engagement capability of the Aegis BMD configuration of the recently upgraded Japanese destroyer, JS KONGO (DDG-173). At approximately 12:05 pm (HST), 7:05 am Tokyo time on Dec. 18, 2007, a ballistic missile target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii. JS KONGO crew members detected and tracked the target. The Aegis Weapon System then developed a fire control solution and at approximately 12:08 pm (HST), 7:08 am Tokyo time, a Standard Missile -3 (SM-3) Block IA was launched. Approximately 3 minutes later, the SM-3 successfully intercepted the target approximately 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean. FTM-1 was the first time that a Japanese ship was designated to launch the interceptor missile, and marked eleven intercepts in twelve attempts.
Until then, I suggest you retire your armchair general status because you really need to go to school for it.
Flight Mission 4 was held in November of
2002. That was the first REAL test of the system.
I would have to say look in the mirror, you seem to take one news article and claim to be an armchair expert. You are claiming the Russian system is more effective than the US one, without even know anything about the Russian system. I think a greater understanding of military technology is warranted on your part.
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) Originally posted by Unknown Perpetrator
Seriously, I'd rather be sitting under a Russian ABM system than a US one.