Posted on: Tuesday, June 17, 2003

Rocket to be launched on Kaua'i in defense test

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the Navy expect to fire an Aries missile from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands tomorrow morning, in the latest test of the Aegis ballistic missile defense system.

Gov. Linda Lingle and other dignitaries are scheduled to be at the base to watch the launch.

The land-launched rocket will serve as a target for an SM-3 interceptor missile fired from the Aegis cruiser USS Lake Erie. It is the latest in a series of tests of the ability of U.S. defenses against ballistic missiles.

This launch will evaluate the SM-3 warhead's operation in space, including systems upgraded since the last test in November 2002. The interceptor crashed into the target rocket in each of the three tests last year.

"The lessons learned from those flight tests and preceding ground tests have been incorporated into this new design to improve performance," the Missile Defense Agency said in a press release yesterday.

The Kaua'i missile range is a key site in the testing of the sea-based ballistic missile defense system, which seeks a shield for the Navy against short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. The defense system aims to identify incoming missiles as they take off, and intercept them in space, when they are roughly midway through their flights.

Tomorrow's test, dubbed FM-5, is the second in a series of six that the Missile Defense Agency said involve "more complex, stressing and operationally realistic ballistic missile engagement scenarios."