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Ballistic missile intercept test declared a success
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Pentagon officials declared successful the latest test of a missile system designed to intercept and destroy another missile in flight. A ballistic missile launched from land at a test range in Hawaii on Thursday was shot down by a counter-missile launched from a Navy ship in the Pacific, as part of the Sea-Based Midcourse Defense program. Some U.S. military sources have suggested the test was delayed until Thursday to sidestep the question of whether it would violate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in effect between the United States and Russia. The withdrawal of the United States from the landmark 1972 accord took effect Thursday.
Chris Taylor, a spokesman for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, said before the test that the exercise "would have been in compliance," and that the date was based on ship availability and other logistics, not the coincidental end of the official six-month U.S. notice to withdraw. A statement issued by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said the defensive missile, known as the Aegis Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile Intercept, used only its own computer programs and sensors to detect, respond and then take out the target missile with an explosive collision. The target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii, and travelled for about six minutes before the counter-missile locked onto the target and scored the hit. This was the fifth of nine tests planned for the system. |
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