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Japan US To Jointly Test Missile Defence System This Week Japan and the United States will test-fire an interceptor of their jointly developed next-generation shipborne missile system later this week, a Japanese defence official said Tuesday. The two allies are currently developing a new version of the US sea-based Standard Missile 3 (SM-3), amid growing concern about North Korea and rising tension between Japan and China. Under the plan, they will launch a conventional SM-3 with a nose cone prototype, from a US Aegis destroyer off Hawaii, to shoot down a flying target, the defence agency official said. "We will check if the nose cone, which protects sensors and other devices, comes off in mid-air properly," the official said without disclosing further details including a specific date for the test. According to local news reports, the test will be a final check of the system on the experimental level after six years of joint research, as the two countries aim to produce the system by March 2016. In December, the Japanese government officially approved a plan to develop the missile defence system with the United States. Tokyo has been in a hurry to build such a system with Washington since North Korea stunned the world in 1998 by firing a missile over the Japanese mainland into the Pacific. The cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi approved a three-billion-yen (26-million-dollar) budget in the financial year for development costs as requested by the country's Defense Agency. It also earmarked 700 million yen for remaining work on the joint research. The SM-3 is part of an anti-missile shield which also includes the land-based surface-to-air PAC-3. SM-3s intercept ballistic missiles when they reach their highest point outside of the atmosphere and PAC-3 missiles are used to destroy missiles that evade SM-3 interceptions. The SM-3s will be based on destroyers equipped with the state-of-the-art Aegis air-defence system. The missile-defence project has been a major part of the strengthened Japan-US military alliance in recent years. ---------------------------------------------------
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