The Pentagon today hailed what it called the "successful flight test" of a sea-based missile defense system at a Pacific range, with officials insisting that the trial was in full compliance with the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM).
"The Missile Defense Agency and the (US) Navy conducted a successful flight test in the continuing development of a Sea-Based Midcourse (SMD) Ballistic Missile Defense System" at a Pacific test range near the Hawaiian island of Kauai late yesterday, a Pentagon statement said.
The USS Lake Erie, a guided missile cruiser stationed several hundred kilometers offshore, tracked a target missile with Aegis Spy-1 radar, then fired an SM-3 interceptor missile at it, officials said.
The test marked the first launch of the newly-developed Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) booster from a ship into space with a prototype warhead designed to intercept and destroy a warhead outside the earth's atmosphere.
The target missile was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands on western Kauai at 3 p.m. Irish time. The interceptor missile was launched eight minutes later, and an intercept occurred ten minutes after, the Pentagon said.
The test was the fourth in a planned series of nine developmental tests flights for the Sea-Based missile defense system.
The program may soon receive a fresh infusion of funds, as President Bush has pledged to seek the largest hike in defense spending in 20 years in the next fiscal year.
AFP