For the first time, US navy managed to intercept and destroy a threat-representative Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) target with a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA missile during a flight test demonstration in the broad ocean area northeast of Hawaii. This was announced during the press release of the Office of the Commander of the US Pacific Fleet. The video of a successful interception was also published at the network.
According to the report, an intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, located on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, toward the broad ocean area northeast of Hawaii. Simultaneously, the Aegis BMD-equipped vessel equipped with the SM-3 Block IIA missile was launched USS John Finn (DDG 113) squadron in the Pacific Ocean and destroyed the ballistic missile.
"This was an incredible accomplishment and critical milestone for the Aegis BMD SM-3 Block IIA program," said U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Director, Vice Admiral Jon Hill.
The exceptional importance of the moment is that it was the first time when American interceptor missile, launched from the sea, managed to shoot down and destroy a ballistic missile.
According to Apostrophe, earlier the United States conducted tests of the intercontinental ballistic missile Minuteman III with the purpose to test the reliability of its systems.