US missile defense test in Hawaii reportedly fails

Los Angeles Feb 1 (IANS) A test of US ballistic missile defense reportedly failed to intercept an incoming target in Hawaii on Wednesday.

"The Missile Defense Agency and US Navy sailors manning the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Test Complex (AAMDTC) conducted a live-fire missile flight test using a Standard-Missile (SM)-3 Block IIA missile launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility Kauai Hawaii Wednesday morning " the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) spokesman Mark Wright said.

Wednesday s trial was in part an effort to test new defense concepts as the missile was launched from the shore rather than the Navy Aegis warships that have carried earlier versions of the projectile for several years Xinhua reported.

The SM-3 interceptor is a defensive weapon the US Navy uses to destroy short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

If confirmed it would mark the second unsuccessful test of the Raytheon missile within a year. The U.S. military had a failed SM-3 Block IIA test last year after a sailor on the destroyer John Paul Jones mistakenly triggered the missile s self-destruct mechanism.

--IANS
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