How Japan Built a 170-Meter Warship That Kills Missiles in Space | Inside the Unseen Maya Destroyer

apan's Maya-class destroyers were built for one of the hardest jobs in naval warfare: finding a ballistic missile, reaching it outside the atmosphere, and destroying it by direct impact. In November 2022, off Hawaii, JS Maya did exactly that in a live test, firing the first SM-3 Block IIA ever launched from a Japanese warship.

This documentary goes inside the two ships of the class, JS Maya (DDG-179) and JS Haguro (DDG-180), built by Japan Marine United in Yokohama. We cover why Japan needed a new Aegis destroyer after the Kongō and Atago classes, how the 170-meter hull was stretched to fit the first hybrid-electric propulsion in a Japanese Aegis destroyer, how the SPY-1D radar and Aegis combat system track threats in the sky and in space at once, and how Mitsubishi Heavy Industries helped engineer the SM-3 Block IIA interceptor.

Then we break down the test that proved it. In Japan Flight Test Mission 7 at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, one ship tracked the target and its sister ship fired on that shared data, using Cooperative Engagement Capability.

Finally, we look at what comes next for Japan's sea-based missile defense: the two new Aegis System Equipped Vessels (ASEV), SM-6, Tomahawk upgrades for the Aegis fleet, and a planned fourfold increase in SM-3 Block IIA production.

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