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U.S. Plans II: Ship-Based Interceptor Tests Successfully The U.S. military last night conducted a successful intercept test of the sea-based midcourse missile defense program, one of several possible components of a national missile defense system (see GSN, June 11). A Standard Missile 3 interceptor rocket fired from the USS Lake Erie in the Pacific hit an Aries target ballistic missile launched from a test site in Hawaii, according to the Associated Press. Aegis radar on the ship guided the interceptor and tracked the target. Defense Department officials said that while the test was not realistic, it provided data needed for further developing a ship-based missile defense system. Testers also gathered data to determine whether the interceptor rocket could be used to defend naval ships as well as to destroy incoming ICBMs, Missile Defense Agency spokesman Chris Taylor said (see GSN, March 26). Yesterday’s test would not have violated the now-defunct 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty because crews did not evaluate whether the ship-based interceptor could have destroyed an enemy ICBM, Pentagon officials said (see GSN, June 13). The official U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty went into effect yesterday (Matt Kelley, Associated Press/Los Angeles Times, June 14). For further information, see: U.S. Fact Sheet on Withdrawal from ABM Treaty U.S. Defense Department Executive Summary
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