North Korea

North Korea Watch: SM-3 Block IA Interceptor Missile SUCCESSFULLY Fired in Thursday’s Test

Aegis Ship-Based BMD

AFP: Successful missile intercept reported in US sea-based defense test

A US warship successfully shot down a target missile warhead over the Pacific in a test of a sea-based missile defense system, the US military said.

A Japanese destroyer performed surveillance and tracking exercises during the test, marking the first time any US ally has taken part in a US missile defense intercept test, the US Missile Defense Agency said.

The test came amid a confrontation with North Korea over its preparations to launch a long-range missile.

The sea-based system tested off Hawaii is designed to counter only short or medium range missiles, but the cruisers and destroyers that took part are capable of tracking long-range missiles as well.

The mock warhead was launched over the Pacific atop a medium range missile and destroyed in a direct hit six minutes later with an SM-3 missile fired by the Aegis cruiser USS Shiloh, the agency said.

“The missile successfully intercepted the target warhead outside the earths atmosphere more than 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean and 250 miles northwest of Kauai,” the agency said in a statement.

“We are continuing to see great success with the very challenging technology of hit-to-kill, a technology that is used for all of our missile defense ground- and sea-based interceptor missiles,” Lieutenant General Trey Obering, the agency chief, said in the statement.

He said it was the seventh successful intercept using the sea-based missile defense system out of eight tries.

Diplomacy appears the course of action for President Bush. But, the military assets will be in place for interception and a preemptive strike cannot be ruled out.

The Missile Defense Agency has demonstrated its readiness and offers America a defensive as well as an offensive option to North Korea’s missile threat. Flexibility in response to world nuclear crisis is something the United States never had before President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).

Does the LEFT see its relevance yet?

Probably not…….

Stay tuned……

A commercial satellite photo of North Korea’s Nodong missile launch site taken on by a Digital Globe satellite and annotated and released by analysts at GlobalSecurity.org on May 24, 2006. The United States and Japan warned North Korea on Monday against a missile launch that experts say could reach as far as Alaska and threatened harsh action if the test flight goes ahead.

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Previous:

North Korea Watch: United States Says “NO” to Direct Talks

North Korea Watch: Direct Talks with the United States?

North Korea Watch: Korea Says it “Is NOT Bound” by Missile Test Ban

North Korea Watch: United States Activates Missile Defense Shield – Part 2

North Korea Watch: United States Activates Missile Defense Shield

North Korea Watch: North Korea Threatens to “Mercilessly Wipe Out” US Forces In Case of War

North Korea Watch: North Korea Close to Test Firing Taepodong-2 Missile – Capable of Reaching Mainland United States

North Korea Watch: North Korea Denies Reported Plans to Test-Fire a Long-Range Missile Capable of Reaching the U.S. Mainland

North Korea Watch: Preparing to Launch A Long Range Ballistic Missile?

North Korea Watch: North Koreans Can and Have Made a Few Nuclear Devices

North Korea Harvesting More Plutonium for Nuclear Weapons

North Korea Warned


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