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Missile-defense system test succeeds
AP on Yahoo ^ | 4/6/07 | Audrey McAvoy

Posted on 04/06/2007 9:16:25 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

HONOLULU - The military shot down a Scud-type missile in this year's second successful test of a new technology meant to knock down ballistic missiles in their final minute of flight, the Missile Defense Agency said Friday.

A ship off Kauai fired a target missile before 9 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time Thursday. Three minutes later, soldiers with the U.S. Army's 6th Air Defense Artillery Brigade launched an interceptor missile from Kauai that destroyed the target over the Pacific, according to the agency.

The military says it already can shoot down missiles in their last stage of flight by using Patriot anti-missile batteries. But the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system would be able to protect larger areas than the Patriot system because it intercepts targets at a higher altitude, said agency spokeswoman Pam Rogers.

The new system had its first successful test last year at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. It had another successful test Jan. 27 at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai.

A September test at White Sands failed when the target missile failed after launch.

The Missile Defense Agency moved its testing for the Terminal High Altitude Defense system to Hawaii because the New Mexico range was not large enough for the military to do the testing it wanted, Rogers said.

The military also uses the Pacific Missile Range Facility to test Aegis technology that's designed to shoot down ballistic missiles midway through their flight.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: missiledefense; succeeds; system; test; thaad

1 posted on 04/06/2007 9:16:26 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge

Reagan still looking out for us.


2 posted on 04/06/2007 10:05:17 PM PDT by Names Ash Housewares
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To: Names Ash Housewares

Dems must be really upset.


3 posted on 04/06/2007 10:15:07 PM PDT by mimaw
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To: NormsRevenge
knock down ballistic missiles in their final minute of flight

Oh-kay.....Please explain to me where the warhead goes....

4 posted on 04/07/2007 2:27:34 AM PDT by Sarajevo
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To: Sarajevo

literally “it goes to pieces”


5 posted on 04/07/2007 9:04:39 AM PDT by redlegplanner
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To: Sarajevo

lol.. It would eventually be retrieved, potentially.

maybe we cold use trained dolphins to attach floaties to them and raise them that way , depending on the depths of the ocean they might fall into.


6 posted on 04/07/2007 10:18:15 AM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ...... BumP'n'Run 'Right-Wing Extremist' since 2001 ... My profile is on FiRe!)
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To: mimaw

Meanwhile Russia is demanding to be part of the anti-missile system, after years of saying it wouldn’t work.

Build antimissile shield together: Russian lawmaker;
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070407060620.3zjexg0l&show_article=1


7 posted on 04/07/2007 10:24:59 AM PDT by backbencher (Nancy Pelosi sends her regards to the non-voting "real conservatives".)
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To: redlegplanner; NormsRevenge
I guess my comment was a little tongue-in-cheek. I was thinking of Scud interceptions by the Patriot Missile system during GW1. When intercepted and "destroyed", the debri of both missiles, to include the warhead, continues on a modified trajectory. Interception only reduces, but it does not eliminate the danger, especially in populated areas.

8 Feb 1991-One SCUD missile is fired at Tel Aviv, Israel. Intercepted by U.S. Patriot missile. Debris caused several injuries.

14 Feb 1991-2 SCUD missiles broke up in flight over Hafr al-Basin, Saudi Arabia, showering debris on buildings, causing damage and several injuries.

25 Feb 1991-Iraqi SCUD missile is fired at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, breaks up in flight scattering debris over a U.S. housing compound in suburban Al Khobar, killing 27 U.S. Army Reserve personnel, wounding 100 others. A SCUD missile fired at Qatar impacts harmlessly.

War Chronology: February 1991

8 posted on 04/07/2007 11:24:00 PM PDT by Sarajevo
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