Missile Defense System Test Launch Is Smashing Success

UPDATE: The latest test of a ground-based U.S. missile defense system intercontinental ballistic missile interceptor was a success Friday and furthers the national missile defense system of the Missile Defense Agency. The test replicated an incoming North Korean missile in the seventh successful test of Boeing Co's long-range missile shield, the Pentagon said.

The estimated $85-million test required a target missile to take off from Kodiak Launch Complex, Alaska. Twenty minutes later, the intercept missile popped out of an underground silo on north Vandenberg Air Force Base. The target and the “kill vehicle” met-up somewhere hundreds of miles west of California, and 100 to 200 miles above the Pacific Ocean, according to the mission's primary objective. [Video Simulation]

Friday's test involved the Ground-based Missile Defense segment, which has interceptors on alert at Vandenberg and Fort Greely, Alaska. The system, which also is made up of radar and a command-and-control system, is designed to guard against a limited long-range missile attacks.

In 11 full-fledged intercept tests of the Missile Defense Agency [video] dating to 1999, the target was shot down [video] seven times. The Pentagon expects to expend $10-billion per year over the next five years to advance the system.

A projected "Global Ballistic Missile Defense Planning 2017" missile defense video simulation is linked HERE and best viewed full screen.