A 32-foot Aries “dummy” rocket was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at 3:23 p.m. Thursday. A Standard Missile-3 interceptor launched from the missile cruiser USS Lake Erie, which was located about 200 miles out to sea from Barking
A 32-foot Aries “dummy” rocket was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at 3:23 p.m. Thursday.
A Standard Missile-3 interceptor launched from the missile cruiser USS Lake Erie, which was located about 200 miles out to sea from Barking Sands, was launched about six minutes later and struck the target missile. The radar system on the Lake Erie tracked the dummy warhead and guided the interceptor to collide with it more than 100 miles above the Pacific.
The test was to show if a rocket guided by a warship’s radar system can knock down a medium- or long-range missile under controlled conditions. Ship-based systems are among several defense methods being tested under the Bush administration’s drive to create a shield against long-range missiles.
