US anti-missile shield for Europe moves step closer

Published on Friday 15 April 2011 17:33

The US military has said it shot down an intermediate-range ballistic missile target over the Pacific in the "most challenging" test yet of its work on a planned anti-missile shield for Europe against Iran.

The Pentagon said the successful test of Lockheed Martin and Raytheon hardware showed it was on track to complete this year the first phase of a layered, multi-billion-dollar anti-missile defence in Europe.

It also may be adapted to defend against North Korea, another focus of US anti-missile efforts, and ultimately to add to existing US ground-based defences.

The test, to the west of Hawaii, marked the first time that Lockheed's shipboard Aegis combat system had been used to intercept a target with a range greater than 1,900 miles, the Pentagon said. Dubbed Flight Test Standard Missile-15, it was also the first Aegis test to rely on missile tracking data gathered by a powerful onshore radar station.

"The ability to use remote radar data to engage a threat ballistic missile greatly increases the battle space and defended area of the SM-3 (interceptor missile used to destroy the target]," the Pentagon said.