Airmen of the Japanese Self Defense Force and Lockheed Martin [LMT] successfully conducted the second Japanese PAC-3 Missile flight test recently at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
“This test success is a milestone in international cooperation between the Governments and industries of Japan and the United States,” said Mike Trotsky, vice president – Air & Missile Defense Programs at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “The PAC-3 system provides robust hit-to-kill defense against ballistic missiles and is a key element in the Japanese defense architecture.”
The PAC-3 Missiles fired in this test were assembled in Taketoyo, Japan, under a licensed production agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Lockheed Martin. The missiles successfully intercepted and destroyed a tactical ballistic missile (TBM) target.
The flight test demonstrated the Patriot Configuration-3 upgrades to Japanese Patriot ground system, and the addition of the PAC-3 Missile Segment to detect, track, engage and destroy a TBM target in a realistic battlefield environment.
The PAC-3 Missile is the world’s most advanced, capable and powerful theater air defense missile. It defeats the entire Patriot Air Defense System threat spectrum: tactical ballistic missiles, evolving cruise missiles and fixed and rotary winged aircraft. PAC-3 Missiles significantly increase the Patriot system’s firepower, since 16 PAC-3s load out on a Patriot launcher, compared with four legacy Patriot PAC-2 missiles.
Lockheed Martin achieved the first-ever hit-to-kill intercept of a ballistic missile target in 1984 with the Homing Overlay Experiment, using force of impact alone to destroy a mock warhead outside of the Earth’s atmosphere. Further development and testing produced today’s PAC-3 Missile, which won a competition in 1993 to become the first hit-to-kill interceptor produced by the U.S. government. The PAC-3 Missile has been the technology pathfinder for today’s total conversion to kinetic energy interceptors for all modern missile defense systems.