The U.S. military said Wednesday that it had successfully conducted an airborne missile defense test in which a F-16 fighter jet fired missiles to destroy a target rocket before it fire off into space.
The test Monday at White Sands test range in New Mexico involved an F-16 fighter that fired two modified AIM-9X missiles at a research rocket, according to a statement from the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency (MDA).
The first missile destroyed a target rocket and the second recorded the interception.
The test was part of the development of a new missile defense system called as the Net-Centric Airborne Defense Element (NCADE),in which missiles can be deployed from both fighter jets and unmanned drones to shoot down enemy missiles in their boost phase.
However, the system can only be effective within some 160 kilometers of the enemy launch site in order to catch the target in time.
But the U.S. military said it is very useful against both short and medium range missiles.
The Pentagon is developing other boost phase intercept systems such as the Airborne Laser and the Kinetic Energy Interceptor.
But unlike the NCADE, these weapons are still years away from being operational.
Source: Xinhua
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