Boeing announced Wednesday that its portion of the Arrow II anti-ballistic interceptor it is building with Israel Aerospace Industries destroyed a target ballistic missile on April 7 in a test conducted in Israel. The Arrow plays a crucial role as Israel's longer-range, higher-altitude ABM interceptor to defend the country against attack, especially from nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missiles that might be fired from Iran.

Boeing said the test was "operationally realistic" and that it was carried out by the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. It said the Arrow II used in the test was "equipped with new capability enhancements."

"This successful test underscores the effectiveness of the cooperative relationship we have forged with IAI on the Arrow program and other international missile-defense initiatives," Greg Hyslop, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems, said in a news release.

"Boeing is proud to co-produce Arrow II interceptors, which provide the state of Israel with a proven defense capability against ballistic missile threats," Hyslop added.

The Arrow II is on a roll. Boeing noted that it was the interceptor's second successful operational test in a row and its third successful flight test.

Boeing said in a news release that it produces many of the interceptor's components, such as "the Section II electronics assembly -- part of the avionics and guidance subsystem; the nose cone; the canister assembly that houses the interceptor; electrical subsystems; and motor cases."

Israel Aerospace Industries, the prime contractor for the Arrow project, then carries out system integration and final interceptor assembly in Israel.

Boeing said its major suppliers for the Arrow II project were Alliant-Techsystems of Iuka, Miss., and Clearfield, Utah; Manes Machine of Fort Collins, Colo.; Patterson Machine of Union Grove, Ala., and Sanmina-SCI of Huntsville, Ala.

Japan to upgrade BMD launch-detection capabilities Japan is crafting its first strategic space policy and will make its priority the upgrading of its missile launch-detection abilities, The Mainichi Daily News reported Tuesday.

The newspaper said it had access to a draft of the policy that was made public on Monday.

The newspaper said the new strategy was put together by a board of experts who served Japan's Strategic Headquarters for Space Policy. The new strategy recommended upgrading the importance of space development for defense and civilian purposes, the newspaper said.

The new strategy also recommended that Japan accelerate its previously cautious program policies on the militarization of space to launch its own early-warning satellites so that Tokyo can get warning of any hostile launches in real time.

Unlike the United States, whose main concern is an intercontinental ballistic missile attack, Japanese strategists are concerned about the close-at-hand threat from neighboring North Korea. The warning time of any North Korean IRBM launch against Japan would be far shorter than the 30 minutes or so it would take an ICBM fired by North Korea or Iran to reach any target in the United States. But slower-moving, lower-altitude IRBMs are more vulnerable to existing anti-ballistic missile systems than ICBMs would be.

The Mainichi Daily News said the new space strategy would guide Japan's space programs for the next five years and was scheduled to be approved at the end of May.

It said Japan had an ambitious program to double the number of satellites it planned to launch during the plan's five years -- a total of 34 compared to the 17 currently in orbit. These satellites would have civilian and pure scientific functions as well as some with defense missions.

The newspaper said the published draft plan gave no indication as to the amount of funding or the number of workers and engineers that would be required to expand Japan's current, much more limited space programs.

The Mainichi Daily News said that the plan also included resources to participate in the international race back to the moon. It envisaged eventual manned Japanese expeditions to land on the moon and chart its geological resources at some point after the year 2020.

The newspaper noted that the new plan reflected the growing popularity of bold spending on space and anti-ballistic missile programs in the ruling but embattled Liberal Democratic Party. Currently, Japan still relies on its ally the United States for spaceborne assets capable of instantaneously detecting any potentially hostile ballistic missile launch.

The newspaper said the new early warning satellites envisaged by the plan would be placed in geosynchronous orbit 22,000 miles above the Earth, guaranteeing that they could maintain 24/7 surveillance on neighboring countries -- presumably primarily North Korea and possibly also China.