Security

Video: Double Hit for Missile Interceptors

U.S. interceptors “for the first time shot down two simulated ballistic missile targets yesterday off Kaua’i,” the Honolulu Advertiser reports. Here’s the tape. The latest “hit to kill” intercept test marked the 10th and 11th successful intercepts, out of 13 targets, for the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense program, the sea-based component of the nation’s still-developing […]

U.S. interceptors "for the first time shot down two simulated ballistic missile targets yesterday off Kaua'i," the Honolulu Advertiser reports. Here's the tape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZTINGadWfs

The latest "hit to kill" intercept test marked the 10th and 11th successful intercepts, out of 13 targets, for the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense program, the sea-based component of the nation's still-developing missile defense program, officials said.

The shoot-down was conducted by the Pearl Harbor-based cruiser USS Lake Erie. At 6:12 p.m., a target missile was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands. Moments later, a second identical target was launched.

The Lake Erie's Aegis weapons system detected and tracked the targets. About two minutes later, Lake Erie's crew fired two SM-3 missiles, and two minutes after that, they successfully intercepted the targets outside the Earth's atmosphere more than 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean and 250 miles northwest of Kaua'i.

Next up: Japan gets in on the act.

In December, Aviation Week notes, the JS Kongo, Tokyo's Aegis-equipped ship, "will become the primary sensor and shooter, while the Lake Erie will conduct a simultaneous, simulated operation."

In other missile defense news, House and Senate negotiators "eliminated $85 million that would have paid for preparing controversial missile interceptor sites in Poland and a targeting radar in the Czech Republic," the Washington Post reports. "The missile defense program has drawn strong objections from Russian President Vladimir Putin and is not popular with either Poles or Czechs."

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