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US successfully tests missile defense

The US military on Friday knocked out a target missile using a sea-launched interceptor that could be part of President George W. Bush's planned ballistic missile defense.

Eager to curb expectations, the Pentagon said a hit had not been its chief goal. But the interceptor missile, launched from an AEGIS-equipped cruiser, and the Aries target missile collided in space over the US Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii.

"It was not a primary objective to result in a hit, however, it did that as well," a Pentagon spokesman said.

The sea-based test took place at 9:18pm after a postponement because a US Navy medical evacuation ship was passing by, the Pentagon said.

In the test, the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie's AEGIS combat system tracked the Aries target missile, then launched a Standard Missile-3 tipped with a fourth-stage kinetic warhead.

The Pentagon spokesman said the primary objective had been to demonstrate the navigation and control capabilities of the Raytheon Co-built Standard Missile-3 warhead.

It was the first operational flight outside the Earth's atmosphere of the LEAP kinetic warhead designed to knock out an incoming medium or long-range ballistic missile outside the atmosphere.

The test was carried out by the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency and the US Navy. The first sea-based test specifically aimed at testing interception is scheduled to take place at an unspecified date this spring. Lockheed Martin Corp builds the AEGIS combat system and phased-array SPY-1D radar used to guide the missile to its target.

US plans for for a missile defense system have been opposed by China and Russia. Washington last year abandoned the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which prohibits deployment of missile defense, and critics expressed fears the move could spark an arms race.

The launch was the fourth in a planned series of nine flight tests for the sea-based midcourse missile defense program.

Backers of a sea-based missile defense say it would provide a mobile shield that could easily be reconfigured to counter the perceived threat from countries like North Korea, Iraq and Iran. Such a system also could provide regional coverage, for instance to shield US allies or troops deployed overseas.

Bush's layered approach to missile defense entails a broad research and testing effort that also includes experimental space-based and airborne lasers. Pentagon officials say they need the flexibility to deploy whichever weapons prove most effective.
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