Japanese warship will try for missile shootdown off Kauai

A Japanese navy ship with a state-of-the-art, American-built, missile-defense system will attempt to shoot a target missile out of the sky this afternoon.

Dubbed JFTM-3 (for Japanese Flight Test Mission 3) Stellar Raicho, with "raicho" being the name of a mythical Japanese thunderbird, the test was originally scheduled for tomorrow in air and sea off the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands near Kekaha.

The test was moved up to today due to weather concerns, said Ralph H. Scott III, a public affairs officer with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

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Update: Japan Achieves Second Ballistic Missile Intercept Using Raytheon Standard Missile-3