Editorial: 100 Percent of Targets Destroyed: Japan Is Testing New Missile in US

Chu-SAM (Image: Wiki Commons)

By Franz-Stefan Gady

The Japanese military has been conducting missile drills at a US test site.

The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) has successfully test-fired the Chu-SAM Kai surface-to-air missile, destroying 100 percent of its targets at the White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico, the United States Army website reports.

Over the summer of 2015, the JGSDF conducted ten flight tests intercepting various targets, including a GQM-163A Coyote target system used to simulate supersonic cruise missiles.

The Chu-SAM Kai is an advanced version of the Chu-SAM medium range surface-to-air missile system domestically developed and produced in Japan. It is a multi-segment propellant missile launched from a road-mobile vertical launch container and has been undergoing evaluation and testing since 2014.

“Development of Chu-SAM(KAI) is aimed at increasing the capability against threats such as cruise missile. By applying advanced sensor and network technologies, Chu-SAM (KAI) increases a defense area against cruise missile, while reduces acquisition cost,” Japan’s Ministry of Defense (MOD) explains [sic].

Read the full story at The Diplomat