WASHINGTON: The Boeing-managed ground-based system intended to shield the continental United States successfully intercepted a simulated incoming missile over the Pacific Ocean for the first time Sunday, the Pentagon said.
The Ground-based Midcourse Defence (GMD) system, with a $40 billion price tag, aims to protect against long-range ballistic missiles from so-called rogue states such as North Korea and Iran. But government records show it has failed a series of tests.
President Barack Obama's administration has announced it plans to spend about $1.3 billion on 14 more interceptors, but only if the closely-watched test was successful.
The interceptor missile was fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and struck a dummy intermediate-range ballistic missile launched from the US Army's Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
"This is a very important step in our continuing efforts to improve and increase the reliability of our homeland ballistic missile defense system," Missile Defence Agency chief Vice Admiral James Syring said in a statement.
The successful test followed the system's failure to hit a simulated missile in five of eight previous tests since president George W. Bush's administration launched the program in 2004.
The latest version of the warhead flown for the test contained hardware and software upgrades, according to manufacturer Raytheon.
It was the first successful intercept by Raytheon's Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle Capability Enhancement II, or EKV CE-II, which failed in both previous tests conducted in 2010.
"We made the fixes needed to be made from the last test, which was back in December of 2010," Pentagon spokesman Admiral John Kirby told reporters on Friday.
He compared the test to "hitting a BB with a BB... It's pretty significant if it works."
"Testing is critically important to ensuring the advancement of reliable kill vehicles for the protection of the US and its allies," Raytheon Missile Systems president Taylor Lawrence said.
Overall, the test marked the 65th successful intercept out of 81 attempts since 2001 for the Ballistic Missile Defence System, according to the Pentagon.
"This mission met several complex test objectives, including a long-duration flight time for the ground-based interceptor and high velocity closing speeds for intercept," a "proud" Boeing said.
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