U.S. declares success in missile defense test
WASHINGTON. August 1. KAZINFORM. The U.S. Missile Defense Agency said on Friday that it successfully tested a sea-based missile defense system on Thursday night; Kazinform refers to Xinhua.
A target missile was fired from Hawaii about 11:40 p.m. eastern time Thursday (0340 GMT Friday) and was tracked by Navy ships hundreds of kilometers away, the agency said in a statement.
The process -- from launch to shoot-down -- took less than five minutes.
The United States plans to use the sea-based system on Aegis-class ships to protect against incoming short-to-medium-range missiles fired from hostile countries.
The test was the 19th successful test in 23 attempts of the Aegis sea-based missile defense system since 2002; Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.xinhuanet.com for full version.