WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States military said early on Sunday it had successfully completed the first test of a prototype weapon that could lay the groundwork for a national missile defense system.
U.S. military officials said a modified unarmed Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) fired from California was intercepted and destroyed on Saturday night over the Pacific Ocean by a ``kill vehicle'' fired from the Marshall Islands. The two launch sites were 4,300 miles (6,880 kms) apart.
The ``kill vehicle'' interceptor destroyed the ICBM target without using an explosive, the National Missile Defence (NMD) Joint Programme Office said in a statement.
``This ``hit to kill'' intercept demonstrates that a warhead carrying a weapon of mass destruction - nuclear, chemical or biological - will be totally destroyed and neutralised,'' the NMD statement said.
Some U.S. officials have said the growing threat of nuclear or other missile technology from any number of hostile nations requires development of a reliable missile defence system.
The kill device, developed by Raytheon Co. and carried aloft by a rocket, is a machine shaped somewhat like a television camera that weighs 121 pounds (55 kg) and is 55 inches (140 cm) long.
It carries a computer that enables it to determine its location by the position of certain stars and then select the target and attack it.
The total cost of the test was about $100 million and its success does not necessarily mean the United States will develop a missile defense system, officials said.
Saturday's test was the first of about 20 NMD system trials planned for the next six years. The next test will occur sometime in the first three months of next year, the NMD said.
Russia has expressed concern that a full U.S. missile defense system could undermine nuclear deterrence and has objected to amending the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty to allow Washington to develop such a system.
The United States has told Russia it wants to amend the treaty after concluding that the pact would have to be changed to allow it to set up a national missile defense.
A U.S. intelligence report last month said that over the next 15 years, the United States ``most likely'' will face long-range ballistic missile threats from Russia, China and North Korea, ``probably'' from Iran, and ``possibly'' from Iraq.
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