AP: Dual Missile Test Fails Off Hawaii

Dual Missile Test Fails Off Hawaii


Friday December 8, 2006 5:16 AM

By DAVID BRISCOE

Associated Press Writer

HONOLULU (AP) - A drill planned to demonstrate the Navy's ability to knock down two
incoming missiles at once from the same ship failed off Hawaii's coast on Thursday,
the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said.

A computer configuration problem aboard the USS Lake Erie grounded one interceptor
missile, and officials halted the second during the test of the sea-based U.S. missile
defense system.

It was the second failure in nine tests of the system by the agency and the U.S. Navy,
said Missile Defense Agency spokesman Chris Taylor.

-snip-

In Thursday's drill, a dummy enemy ballistic missile was launched from the Pacific
Missile Range Facility on Kauai, simulating a missile attack on U.S. territory, and a
shorter-range missile was fired from a Navy aircraft and aimed at the anti-missile ship,
the Lake Erie, the agency said.

Both target missiles dropped harmlessly into the ocean.

-snip-