Sea-Based Missile Defense Test Successfully Downs Target

A U.S. Standard Missile 3 successfully intercepted a target warhead over the Pacific Ocean yesterday during a test of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said (see GSN, Dec. 11).

The target missile was launched from Hawaii yesterday morning and was detected by the USS Russell, an Aegis destroyer. The Russell transmitted the information to the USS Lake Erie, which acquired the missile with its own Aegis equipment. About four minutes after it was launched, the target missile was intercepted by an SM-3 launched from the Lake Erie.

Yesterday’s test marked the fourth successful intercept for the Aegis and SM-3 systems, according to the U.S. Defense Department (U.S. Defense Department release, Dec. 11).

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