Navy Aces Missile Test

(AP)  The military successfully launched and shot down a dummy ballistic missile during its ascent Thursday, the first in a series testing the Pentagon's plans to shield America from short- and medium-range missiles.

The missile was launched at 2:30 p.m. from the Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands toward the Pacific Ocean and was intercepted within four minutes on the ascent by another missile launched from the cruiser USS Lake Erie, the Department of Defense said.

"It's a major milestone," said Chris Taylor, spokesman for the military's Missile Defense Agency.

Taylor said it was the first time in the history of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense program that a missile had been intercepted on the rise.

The missile was intercepted 500,000 feet above sea level. The Lake Erie had about 80 seconds to identify the threat and launch an intercepting missile, Taylor said.

The test was conducted by the Navy and the Missile Defense Agency. It was the first of six flight tests to develop an emergency deployment sea-based ballistic missile defense against short- to medium-range ballistic missiles, the Pentagon said.

It was the third consecutive target intercept flight.

In June, a dummy missile launched at the same Navy base was struck down by an interceptor missile fired from some 200 miles out at sea in an exercise to show that a rocket guided by a warship's radar system can knock down a medium- or long-range missile under controlled conditions. A January exercise to test the guidance, navigation and control systems also resulted in a missile being shot down.

The success of the June test accelerated the flight-testing objectives of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense, the Pentagon said.