IT'LL NEVER FLY, GIPPER:

Japanese Ship Downs Missile in Pacific Test (Reuters, 12/18/07)

A Japanese Navy destroyer shot down a ballistic missile on Monday in a test about 100 miles over the Pacific, a first for a United States ally, American and Japanese forces said.

The $55 million test was a “major milestone” in growing American and Japanese cooperation, according to a joint statement by Rear Adm. Katsutoshi Kawano of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, chief of the Missile Defense Agency at the Pentagon.