The US and Japan Send NoKo a Message

The US and our allies sent Kim Jong Il an unambiguous message:

A US warship successfully shot down a target missile warhead over the Pacific in a test of a sea-based missile defense system, the US military said.

A Japanese destroyer performed surveillance and tracking exercises during the test, marking the first time any US ally has taken part in a US missile defense intercept test, the US Missile Defense Agency said.

The mock warhead was launched over the Pacific atop a medium range missile and destroyed in a direct hit six minutes later with an SM-3 missile fired by the Aegis cruiser USS Shiloh, the agency said.

"The missile successfully intercepted the target warhead outside the earths atmosphere more than 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean and 250 miles northwest of Kauai," the agency said in a statement.

He said it was the seventh successful intercept using the sea-based missile defense system out of eight tries.

That's a 88% success rate. Pretty sweet. Now let's see the unstable NoKo leader try to test his new toy.

Of course the hand-wringers will moan that this is a provovcation as they always do when the American military institutes new policies to protect the nation. So be it, whine away.

I for one feel safer knowing that we can knock down inbound missiles before they can detonate over an American city.