WASHINGTON: An advanced Standard Missile-3 ballistic interceptor failed to hit its target in its first test launch conducted over the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii, the US Defense Department said.
The SM-3 Block 1B interceptor missile was launched yesterday from a US Navy vessel about 90 seconds after the firing of a short-range ballistic missile target, but the target was not intercepted, the US Missile Defense Agency, a unit of the Pentagon, said.
The agency will conduct "an extensive investigation to determine the cause of the failure to intercept," it said in a statement.
According to the Pentagon, the SM-3 Block 1B is a different model from the Block 2A, a type that is under development by Japan and the United States, while technologies are partly shared.
A Pentagon official said, however, it is unclear how the failed test will affect the development of the Block 2A missile.
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