Navy Launches Interceptor Missile

A Standard Missile -- 3 (SM-3) Block 1B interceptor is launched from the USS Lake Erie (CG 70) during a Missile Defense Agency and U.S. Navy test in the mid-Pacific, May 16, 2013. The SM-3 Block 1B successfully intercepted a target missile that had been launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii. Following target launch, Lake Erie detected and tracked the target with its onboard AN/SPY-1 radar. The ship, equipped with the second-generation Aegis BMD weapon system, developed a fire control solution and launched the SM-3 Block 1B. The intercept occurred a few minutes later. The event was the third consecutive successful intercept test of the SM-3 Block IB missile. (Video courtesy of Missile Defense Agency)