Love and rockets: U.S. downs missile with new interceptor, proposes missile shield for East Coast

May 11, 2012 – WASHINGTON – U.S. forces said they had destroyed a target in the first successful test of the Navy’s newest anti-missile interceptor, designed to protect allies from attacks by countries like North Korea and Iran. A target ballistic missile was downed near Hawaii late on Wednesday by the latest Raytheon Co-built Standard Missile-3 interceptor, the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency (MDA) said. The advanced interceptor is key to the next phase of an anti-missile shield being built by the United States in and around Europe. The United States plans to deploy increasingly capable SM-3 versions up to around 2020 to boost defenses against missiles that could be fired by Iran and North Korea. “Initial indications are that all components performed as designed,” the agency said in an emailed statement. The interceptor, called the SM-3 Block 1B, had failed to knock out its target in its maiden intercept test in September. This led to a continuing delay in Raytheon’s production. In the drill on Wednesday, a short-range ballistic target missile was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, located on Kauai, Hawaii, MDA said. –Telegraph

Missile Shield proposed for U.S. East Coast: One day after the House Armed Services Committee voted to back a third U.S. missile interceptor site for the East Coast, the Pentagon’s top military general said there was no need for the new site. “In my military judgment, the program of record for ballistic missile defense for the homeland, as we’ve submitted it, is adequate and sufficient to the task,” Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon news briefing Thursday. “So I don’t see a need beyond what we’ve submitted in the last budget.” The House committee included $100 million to start developing an East Coast missile defense site, which Strategic Forces subcommittee Chairman Michael Turner (R-Ohio) said was needed to counter rising threats from Iran and North Korea. The United States currently has missile defense sites in California and Alaska and is planning to increase its missile defense capabilities further in Europe. The committee provision’s instructs the Pentagon to determine the best location for the East Coast site and conduct an environmental impact review, calling for the missile interceptor to be operational by 2016. –The Hill