Posted on 08/05/2009 5:30:53 PM PDT by Kaslin
SDI: If you missed the news, which isn't hard given how poorly these things are covered, our "unproven" missile defense proved itself again last week, when a U.S. warship downed a simulated North Korean missile in flight.
A short-range ballistic missile simulating a missile like North Korea's Nodongs or Scuds was fired from the Pacific Missile Test Range on the island of Kauai. In position to intercept was the Aegis destroyer Hopper, which fired a Standard Missile-3 to shoot it down about 100 miles above the Pacific in an exercise dubbed "Stellar Avenger."
As part of the exercise, the destroyer O'Kane simulated an engagement and the cruiser Lake Erie detected and tracked the target missile. An MDA statement said the Hopper then directed its interceptor to a "direct body to body hit, approximately two minutes after leaving the ship."
In February 2008, it helped Lake Erie using an SM-3 succeed in shooting down the National Reconnaissance Office's NROL-21 Radarsat, weighing 2.5 tons, before it could strike the earth with its deadly hydrazine fuel tank nearly full.
Aegis was conceived as part of a layered missile defense capable of intercepting a missile at all stages of flight the boost or launch phase, in-flight and as its warhead descends toward its intended American target, whether it be a city or a military installation.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...
Dang! the missile hit a target 100 miles *UP* and XX miles down range in about 2 minutes.
Wow! Just wow!
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