Western Pacific: Missile-Defense Test Succeeds

Navy and Army missile-defense crews successfully intercepted two medium-range ballistic missile targets during a Sept. 10 test conducted in the western Pacific, near the Army's Kwajalein Atoll/Reagan Test Site.

The crew of the destroyer Decatur used its AN/SPY-1 radar to track one of the target missiles. Using its Aegis ballistic-missile defense system, the crew then launched a Standard Missile-3 Block IA missile to intercept the target. Additionally, soldiers attached to Alpha Battery, 2nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, used an AN/TPY-2 radar system and a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) weapon system to find and track the missiles.

Using THAAD, the crew launched an interceptor missile, which caught and destroyed the second test missile target. The Missile Defense Agency, Ballistic Missile Defense System Operational Test Agency, Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense, and U.S. Pacific Command also played key roles in the successful test.