United States: The U.S Missile Defense Agency for the first time shot down an air launched intermediate range ballistic missile target during a test off Guam, a major boost to Guam’s defense, Pentagon said on Tuesday.
Strategic Importance of Guam
Guam is a US territory situated in the western part in the Pacific Ocean; it is strategically located between China and closer to China than to Hawaii. It is to perform an important mission or role in defending and sustaining U.S presence in the region and to dissuade adversaries, as reported by Reuters.
The test, considered successful, is another example of the Pentagon’s efforts to strengthen Guam’s fortification against new missile threats.
Details of the Test: FEM-02
In the test called Flight Experiment Mission-02 (FEM-02) the Aegis Guam System with AN/TPY-6 radar and Vertical Launching System shot a Standard Missile-3 Block IIA.
The missile, provided by USA’s RTX Corp formerly known as Raytheon, launched from the ground to safely intercept an air-launched Medium Range Ballistic Missile target over the Pacific Ocean near Andersen Air Force Base.
Enhanced Missile Defense Capabilities
MDA Director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins also described the test as a great success and stressed that the results of the test showed the effectiveness of joint tracking architecture and integrated air/missile defence capabilities for Guam.
Framework for the Future
The successful intercept is within a framework of improving the Guam Defense System (GDS) to integrate an extensive air and missile defense capability, as reported by Reuters.
MDA intends to take data, collected by this experiment, for the purpose of perfecting and verifying the notion and specifications for the future GDS.