Foreign Military Sales

The Japan Maritime Self Defense Force has two classes of Aegis configured destroyers, their KONGO Class and ATAGO Class. In December 2003, Japan decided to upgrade the Aegis-configured KONGO Class Destroyers with the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) capability. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) cases have been implemented to upgrade all four KONGO Class Destroyers to the U.S. Aegis BMD operational capability, armed with SM-3 Block IA missiles. Each installation is followed by a flight test to demonstrate the proper operation of the BMD equipment and computer programs.

In Japan's first BMD at sea firing (JFTM-1), JS Kongo (DDG 173) successfully searched for, detected, tracked, engaged and intercepted a separating Medium Range Ballistic Missile Target (MRT) in December 2007. JFTM-1 validated the proper performance of the Japan Aegis BMD Combat System configuration. JS Kongo's at-sea firing was followed by JS Chokai (DDG
176) and JS Myoko (DDG 175). JS Kirishima (DDG 174) was the last KONGO Class Destroyer to have the BMD capability installed and tested.

JFTM-4

Learn more about JFTM-4 by reading the fact sheet.

Selected JFTM-4 Images