Demonstrating again that anti-missile missiles work best under carefully controlled circumstances, a test of such a weapon fired from Hawaii has missed its target.
The US$30 million test was fired from the Kauai Aegis Ashore site in Hawaii. It was supposed to see a SM-3 Block IIA anti-missile missile intercept a target representing an incoming missile that was launched from an aircraft.
The US Pacific Command, contacted by CNN, confirmed that a test took place but not the outcome, saying only that the test took place on Wednesday morning.
The Raytheon SM-3 Block IIA is a joint US-Japan development built to provide a defence against medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
Defense News noted that without further information from the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) it's impossible to know whether the problem was in the interceptor, the targeting radar, or the Raytheon-developed Aegis weapons system used by the US Navy was at fault.
Additional Coverage at DefenseNews and USNI News.
The Raytheon SM-3 Block IIA Interceptor.
(Score: 2) by cellocgw on Saturday February 03 2018, @03:47AM
On the bright side, I earned a decent salary (in engineering terms) for over 20 years working on various anti-missile "star wars" bullshit that never worked. Nice life while it lasted.
(yes I'm being sarcastic. And yes, Star Wars paid my salary)
Physicist, cellist, former OTTer (1190) resume: https://app.box.com/witthoftresume