The U.S. Missile Defense Agency plans to test an antiballistic missile, jointly developed with Japan, on its ability to intercept an intercontinental ballistic missile, a senior defense official said Wednesday.

Rear Adm. Jon Hill, deputy director of the agency, did not provide details, such as timing, on the planned test of the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA, citing the protection of intelligence.

"I hate making things easy on our adversaries, so I'm not going to say when we're going to do it or how we're going to do it," Hill said at an event in Washington. "But we're going to do it."

(Anti-ICBM missile test carried out in Hawai in August 2017)
[U.S. Missile Defense Agency handout]

With the missile threat posed by North Korea in sight, the SM-3 Block IIA is designed to intercept short to medium-range ballistic missiles.

Experts have referred to the possibility of extending its range to take down ICBM targets.

Hill said conducting a test against an ICBM target is part of the path toward putting the SM-3 Block IIA on a production phase.

"It's been legislated. We have the plan," he said. "It is in our test plan that we're going to execute."

The experts say the test is expected to take place by the end of 2020.

(A U.S. Aegis Ashore)

The SM-3 Block IIA, which Japan plans to introduce in fiscal 2021, would provide a new and more advanced interceptor for Aegis-equipped destroyers and the Aegis Ashore system, a land-based variant of the Aegis ballistic missile defense system which Japan decided last December to deploy.

On Jan. 31, an SM-3 Block IIA was launched from Hawaii using Aegis Ashore technology, but failed to intercept an incoming dummy medium-range missile.

However, senior Missile Defense Agency officials brushed aside concern about the capability of the SM-3 Block IIA, saying it is an "extremely capable interceptor."


(A U.S. Aegis destroyer)