KAUAI, Hawaii, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Riki Ellison, President and Founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA), www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org, praised the Japanese crew for their successful intercept test off of the coast of Hawaii on Tuesday evening. Ellison who was in Hawaii for the test had these remarks and observations:

"Against the early evening clear sky off of the coast of Kauai, Hawaii, the Japanese Kongo class destroyer JS MYOKO (DDG-175) tracked and launched a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) block 1A missile and obliterated a target ballistic missile, unequivocally demonstrating their capability to destroy any current deployed North Korean ballistic missile threatening the people of Japan. This milestone event marks the debut of the third Japanese Kongo class destroyer with ballistic missile defense capability that will patrol and defend the seas surrounding Japan against the threat from North Korea to their homeland. Having three Aegis-equipped ships with a ballistic missile defense capability allows the defensive forces of Japan to patrol and protect the people of Japan 24 hours a day and seven days as week."

"This also marks the first successful Aegis missile defense intercept of President Obama's 'new missile defense architecture' announced September 16th of this year. The cooperative efforts with the Japanese government on the Aegis missile defense system are a major emphasis on the President's new missile defense plan. The Japanese are full and equal co-developers of the SM-3 block 2 missile which is the highly preferred 'end all' defensive missile by the Department of Defense that will defend Europe and the U.S. homeland under this Administration's promise to defend our nation against Iran by 2020."

"Like their legendary ancestral forefathers, the Samurai Warriors, the Imperial Japanese Navy officers and sailors showed incredible precision to strike down cleanly and exactly an incoming threat, once again proving their ability to protect their sacred homeland. The manner in which they performed brought much honor to the crew of the JS MYOKO (DDG-175) in showing their ability to uphold the first line defense of their country."

Ellison closed his remarks with this comment: "Ganbatte to our Japanese friends" -- which is another way of saying congratulations and well done.

Riki Ellison was in Hawaii during the test. He is available for on-the-record interviews about the testing of our nation's missile defense program. Call 602 885-1955 to arrange an interview.

SOURCE Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance

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