Cruiser aims for direct hit

Defense: Military tests anti-ballistic missile system

Aboard the USS LAKE ERIE » For the first time, a high-tech U.S. Navy warship from Pearl Harbor will try to knock out a Scud-type missile fired from the decks of a decommissioned helicopter aircraft carrier.

The Aegis cruiser USS Lake Erie, which has been the Navy's test bed for its anti-ballistic missile program, will fire two missiles Thursday in hopes of intercepting in the atmosphere a single missile launched from the deck of the USS Tripoli, anchored more than 300 miles south of Kauai.

In the past, the Lake Erie has been able to hit a drone missile in nine out of 11 tries.

Its last, most successful attempt was in November when the 567-foot cruiser knocked out two Scud-type missiles launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands with two of its own missiles.

Lt. Cmdr. Drew Bates, Lake Erie's combat systems officer, said "the goal of this week's mission is to hit it directly."

In the past, Aegis cruisers and destroyers have intercepted drone missiles either by a body-to-body hit or by just exploding a warhead near the missile -- high pressure, fragmentation from the missile or heat is often strong enough to knock it down.

The two interceptor Standard Missile Block IV missiles will be fired less than three seconds apart, Bates added, and Erie's crew will not be forewarned of the exact time the Tripoli's crew will fire the target missile.

The Pacific Missile Range at Kauai has been the Navy's test site for its ballistic missile program for the past six years.

The Pacific Fleet has three Aegis cruisers -- Lake Erie, Shiloh and Port Royal -- and six Aegis destroyers -- Decatur, Curtis Wilbur, McCain, Steethem, Fitzgerald and Russell -- that can intercept missiles. The Lake Erie, Port Royal and Russell are based at Pearl Harbor.

The skipper of the Lake Erie is Capt. R. Boxall.