US agency successfully tests missile interceptors

Washington, March 26 (IANS) The US Missile Defence Agency successfully launched two ground-based missile interceptors in rapid succession against a simulated intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launched from a test site in the Pacific.

According to the Agency, Monday's test was to ensure that if multiple missiles were in the air, the sensors of the US ground-based interceptors would be able to distinguish the enemy's incoming missiles from other missiles and electronic clutter in the environment, CNN reported.

While the interceptors were launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the ICBM flew from the test site on the Kwajalein Atoll.

The first ground-based interceptor destroyed the re-entry vehicle on the mock adversary missile as it was designed to do. Then the second ground-based interceptor's sensors tracked the resulting debris and remaining objects.

As expected, it did not sense any adversary warhead. So it struck the next "most lethal object" it could identify, as designed, the agency said.

"This was the first GBI salvo intercept of a complex, threat-representative ICBM target, and it was a critical milestone," Agency Director Air Force Lt. Gen. Samuel A. Greaves said.

"The system worked exactly as it was designed to do, and the results of this test provide evidence of the practicable use of the salvo doctrine within missile defence, CNN reported.

"The Ground-based Midcourse Defensc system is vitally important to the defence of our homeland, and this test demonstrates that we have a capable, credible deterrent against a very real threat."

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