Video: U.S. zaps target in missile defense test

Missile Defense Agency

By Dawn Lim

| June 27, 2012

Shield was built to thwart capabilities of countries such as Iran.

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Military forces deploying a new Raytheon interceptor missile zapped another missile in space in a high-stakes demonstration, Reuters reports .

In a test run of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system, the Missile Defense Agency and U.S. Navy sailors in the guided missile cruiser USS Lake Erie took out the target -- a separating ballistic missile -- over the Pacific Ocean with an interceptor missile, the Standard Missile-3 Block IB, the agency announced .

At 11:15 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time on June 26, the target missile was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii. The cruiser tracked it with onboard radar and launched the interceptor in response.

The United States plans to deploy increasingly sophisticated versions of Raytheon's Standard Missile-3 through 2020 to counter missiles that could be capable of delivering chemical or nuclear warheads, according to reports .

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Shield was built to thwart capabilities of countries such as Iran.