US Navy shoots down two ICBMs simultaneously

The Honolulu Advertiser reports that a US Navy missile defense test was a smashing success:

The Missile Defense Agency and Navy for the first time shot down two simulated ballistic missile targets yesterday off Kaua'i as the U.S. military heads toward a 2009 goal for operational use.

...The shoot-down was conducted by the Pearl Harbor-based cruiser USS Lake Erie. At 6:12 p.m., a target missile was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands. Moments later, a second identical target was launched.

The Lake Erie's Aegis weapons system detected and tracked the targets. About two minutes later, Lake Erie's crew fired two SM-3 missiles, and two minutes after that, they successfully intercepted the targets outside the Earth's atmosphere more than 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean and 250 miles northwest of Kaua'i.

The Aegis system guided the SM-3 intercept missiles through its first, second and third stages. Each SM-3 carries a kinetic warhead that ejects from the third stage and crashes into the target missile. Yesterday's test was delayed by several hours when boaters strayed into the Pacific Missile Range Facility... The Missile Defense Agency and Navy are modifying 15 destroyers and three cruisers to have Aegis ballistic missile defense capabilities.

In 1983, Ted Kennedy ridiculed Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) programs, calling them "reckless Star Wars schemes."

The only similarity of missile defense to the sci-fi film is Kennedy's increasing resemblance to Jabba the Hut.

If I were Ted Kennedy (*** shudder ***), I would be getting pretty damn sick of being wrong.

Cross-posted at Doug Ross @ Journal

Drill Team

Little Green Footballs put up this excellent video of the US Marines Silent Drill Team. The silent part means that no commands are given to initiate various actions as is done in normal squad manuvers. Commands like "About Face", "Forward, March", "Attention", "Present Arms", etc.

Which of course got me to thinking about my days as a Navy boot.

We drilled with the Springfield M1903. It is a very fine piece to drill with. They never trusted us with bayonets though. LOL (Boot camp for me started 11 Nov '63. NTC San Diego. Right next to Marine Corp Recruit Depot. We'd be having a smoke next to the fence watching the Marines double timing around the perimiter of the Recruit Depot. I know we thought "stupid Jar Heads". They probably thought "pussy Sailors". I'm sure the positioning was intentional. Motivation for both sides. LOL.)

BTW I love the way the fittings on the rifles rattle. It sounds like men going to battle since the age of metal weapons began.

Wiki on the 1903:

Due to its balance, it is still popular with various military drill teams and color guards, most notably the U.S. Army Drill Team. M1903 rifles are also common at high school Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) units to teach weapons handling and military drill procedures to the cadets. JROTC units use M1903s for regular and inter-school competition drills, including elaborate exhibition spinning routines similar to a majorette spinning a baton.

For those of you who would like to see what the USNavy can do.

War Games

The US Navy is staging war games in the Persian Gulf.

MANAMA—Mounting tensions between Iran and the West have accelerated war games the U.S. navy is conducting in the Gulf, a spokesman for the U.S. Fifth Fleet said on Wednesday.

A second U.S. aircraft carrier began exercises in the Gulf on Tuesday—the first time two such vessels have been sent to patrol Gulf waters since the U.S.-led war on Iraq in 2003.

The U.S. exercises come amid rising tension with Iran over its nuclear programme and its capture of British sailors.

"The planning accelerated in conjunction with what was going on, but it was absolutely not the sole determinant ... We are here exercising every day," said Kevin Aandahl, a spokesman for the U.S. Fifth Fleet based in the Gulf island of Bahrain.

"If Iran takes away a message from this, that's up to them... Frankly the message is a regional one that reinforces that our presence is to provide stability and security."

Iran will get two messages: the Navy is present and the Navy is practicing.

Good messages.

Cross Posted at Power and Control