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Destroyer intercepts missile in Hawaii test

HONOLULU — The U.S. military intercepted a midrange target missile in a test off Hawaii on Friday, marking the ninth time it has successfully shot down a missile from a ship at sea. Two of the past attempts failed.

The USS Decatur fired an interceptor missile from a point off Kauai, hitting the midrange target’s simulated warhead 100 miles above the Earth, the Missile Defense Agency said in a news release.

The target separated midflight, meaning the interceptor missile had to distinguish between the warhead and booster rocket for “the kill.”

The military fired the target from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai. About four minutes later, the Decatur launched an SM-3 missile, which collided with the target, destroying it over the Pacific Ocean, 250 miles northwest of Kauai, the agency said.

“It went exceedingly well,” said Rear Adm. Alan B. Hicks, Aegis ballistic missile defense commander and program director.

“We will spend the next two to three months going through all the data that we collected from the event,” Hicks said in a telephone interview.

More than 70 ground, sea and airborne sensors were used to gather information on the test that will cost a total of about $50 million, he said.

The test marked the first time a Navy destroyer intercepted a target missile. Previously only Navy cruisers had done so.

The frigate Mendez Nunez tracked the target, marking the first time a Spanish navy ship participated in an Aegis missile test. Japanese and Dutch navy ships have tracked missile targets during previous tests.

The test was initially scheduled for Thursday but had to be delayed because a fishing trawler could not clear the hazard area in time, Hicks said. Planes, helicopters and small boats were used to patrol thousands of square miles of ocean to keep an eye out for “range foulers,” he said.

Cruisers are similar to destroyers in that they both handle missions ranging from hunting submarines to tracking ballistic missiles. But destroyers are smaller than cruisers, displacing only some 8,400 tons in the water compared to 9,600 tons.

The vessels also carry fewer sailors. A destroyer has about 323 officers and enlisted sailors on board compared to 364 on a cruiser.

The military plans to make destroyers an integral part of the sea-based Aegis ballistic missile defense system it is building to protect the U.S. and its allies against missiles from North Korea.

The Pacific Fleet will install long-range missile tracking and midrange missile interception technology on 13 destroyers and three cruisers by 2009.

The military is equipping two Atlantic Fleet destroyers with the same capabilities.

The Aegis ballistic missile defense system refers to the technology the military has mounted on Navy ships to intercept midrange missiles. There’s another program, Ground-based Midcourse Defense, that’s designed to shoot down missiles midway through their flight with interceptors fired from Alaska and California.

Both complement other systems designed to shoot down missiles in their final stages of flight, the Patriot system already in use and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system under development.

The Missile Defense Agency is also developing lasers that will shoot down missiles just after they are launched.