Japan's navy yesterday announced that it certified the Aegis missile defense system on one of its warships although the equipment failed to destroy a ballistic missile target in a November exercise, Kyodo News reported (see GSN, Nov. 20).
The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force's certification commission concluded Monday that the Standard Missile 3 firing unit and other equipment on the JDS Chokai functioned as expected and that the test error was caused by a faulty missile interceptor warhead. The Chokai was the second missile defense-equipped Japanese destroyer to pass a quality review.
A U.S.-led investigation is searching for the warhead glitch that caused the error.
"We want to press the U.S. side to see the latest trouble resolved quickly and see that reflected (in missiles). But because this concerns relations with the United States, some things can't be helped," MSDF Chief of Staff Adm. Keiji Akahoshi told reporters (Kyodo News/Japan Times, Dec. 17).