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Caption:
PACIFIC OCEAN (June 22, 2007) -- A Standard Missile (SM-3) is launched
from the Aegis combat system equipped Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS
Decatur (DDG 73) during a Missile Defense Agency ballistic missile
flight test. Minutes later the SM-3 intercepted a separating
ballistic missile threat target, launched from the Pacific Missile
Range Facility, Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii. It was the first time
such a test was conducted from a ballistic missile defense
equipped-U.S. Navy destroyer. The previous flight tests were
conducted from U.S. Navy cruisers. The maritime capability is
designed to intercept short to intermediate-range ballistic missile
threats in the midcourse phase of flight. USS Decatur is one
of
18 U.S. Navy ships (three cruisers and 15 destroyers) that will be
identically equipped, by early 2009, with the ballistic missile defense
capabilities of conducting long-range surveillance/tracking and
launching the SM-3 missile. U.S. Navy Photo (Released)
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