A Navy warship off the coast of Kaua‘i today will test its ability to intercept a short-range ballistic missile while also defending itself against a cruise missile attack. A successful test would mark the first simultaneous defense of this type
A Navy warship off the coast of Kaua‘i today will test its ability to intercept a short-range ballistic missile while also defending itself against a cruise missile attack.
A successful test would mark the first simultaneous defense of this type by a ship equipped with the Aegis ballistic missile defense weapon system, military officials said.
The Pacific Missile Range Facility will launch a dummy ballistic missile in the only part of the test that may be visible to Kaua‘i residents, Chris Taylor, spokesman for the Missile Defense Agency, said.
A naval aircraft will launch a second attack, a dummy cruise missile targeting the Aegis-equipped cruiser USS Lake Erie.
The ship will launch two interceptors, an SM-3 that should collide with the ballistic missile in mid-course and an SM-2 that should meet with the cruise missile.
“There are no explosives,” Taylor said. “It’s the sheer impact.”
The collision will occur in lower space, he said.
“It will hit, and the debris will fall into the PMRF ocean debris field,” he said.
Aegis systems have led interceptors to targets during seven of eight tests.
The ninth test comes as tensions continue to mount over the development of weapons programs in both North Korea and Iran.
No connection between current events and Aegis tests exists, Taylor said, pointing out that the military conducts two to four tests every year, at a cost ranging from $38 million to $43 million.
“This test has been planned for years,” he said.
But the test does send a message to the rest of the world, said Riki M. Ellison, a former linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers who established the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.
“This is a very visual demonstration to North Korea that we have these systems, and they work,” he said.
That message acts as a deterrent, he said, and validates the U.S. pullout from the Antiballistic Missile Treaty in 2002. ABMs provide a defense option outside of diplomacy and pre-emptive strikes, he said.
“It’s making our world a safer place,” said Ellison, who came to Kaua‘i to observe today’s test.
President Bush requested Congress approve a 20 percent hike in funding for the MDA in 2007. The $9.3 billion request tops all presidential requests since 1985 and follows a year when the president asked for and received $7.8 billion, down 13 percent from 2005.
The money funds the development, testing and deployment of missile defense systems including Aegis and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD.
That land-based defense system began arriving at the PMRF over the past two years, said Tom Clements, spokesman for the facility.
Nine THAAD tests are scheduled for 2007, Taylor said, with the first scheduled for the end of January.
Missile defense tests bring a surge of up to 600 workers to Kaua‘i during the build-up to the event, Clements said, with most visiting employees staying in off-base accommodations for about three weeks.
Those surges infuse the Kaua‘i economy with an estimated $3 million to $4 million, he said. Between Aegis and THAAD tests scheduled next year, the island should see about six surges, he said.
