LOCKHEED MARTIN'S PAC-3 MISSILE SUCCESSFULLY DESTROYS TACTICAL BALLISTIC MISSILE IN TEST
DALLAS, TX, September 1, 2006 - Lockheed Martin’s [NYSE: LMT] Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile successfully intercepted and destroyed an incoming Tactical Ballistic Missile (TBM) target yesterday during a flight test at White Sands Missile Range, NM. This was the 19th successful flight test out of 22 conducted to date.
Successful Missile Defense Intercept Test Takes Place off Hawaii
Lieutenant General Henry “Trey” Obering, Missile Defense Agency director, announced today the completion of a successful “hit to kill” intercept in partnership with the U.S. Army for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense test element at the Pacific Missile Range Facility off the island of Kauai in Hawaii.
Preliminary indications are that planned flight test objectives were achieved. This test involved the intercept of a separating target (mock warhead separated from the booster rockets) in the “midendoatmosphere” (inside the earth’s atmosphere).
The target, representing a threat ballistic missile, was launched from a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft flying over the Pacific Ocean at 4:16 p.m. Hawaiian Standard Time (10:16 p.m. EDT). Approximately six minutes later the interceptor missile was launched from a mobile THAAD launcher on the range facility. This was the 35th successful hit-to-kill intercept of 43 attempts in the atmosphere and in space since 2001, and was the 29th of 30 successful tests conducted since September 2005.
The Army’s first THAAD battery was activated last month at Fort Bliss, Texas, giving soldiers the opportunity to train on THAAD equipment for approximately one year in anticipation of fielding.