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Sea-Based Missile Misses Target in Test
By B. J. Reyes
Associated Press
posted: 11:55 am ET
19 June 2003
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HONOLULU (AP) -- A sea-based missile defense system failed its first test since the Bush administration outlined plans to have a rudimentary program ready for use by 2005, Defense Department officials said HONOLULU (AP) -- A sea-based missile defense system failed its first test since the Bush administration outlined plans to have a rudimentary program ready for use by 2005, Defense Department officials said. Wednesday's test over the Pacific Ocean followed a series of successful strikes over the past 2 1/2 years, and it was the first failure among four sea-based tests. For the test, a Standard Missile-3 interceptor fired from the USS Lake Erie cruiser was tracking an Aries target missile launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai _ a feat likened to trying to hit a bullet with a bullet. After the miss, the two rockets crashed into the ocean. Preliminary data showed that the interceptor's guidance system had detected the target, Defense spokesman Chris Taylor said. "You test a little, you learn a lot and you continue to go forward. This is rocket science," he said. Under the Bush administration plans, announced in December, 20 Standard Missile-3 interceptors would be placed aboard three Navy ships with improved versions of the Aegis system that uses radar to detect hostile missiles and cue on-board weapons to intercept them. This sea-based system was outlawed under the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, but President Bush gained the flexibility of testing it when the United States withdrew from the treaty last summer. The plan also calls for the development of ground-based missile interceptors.
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