Successful test-flight of Aegis Ballistic Defense system gives coherence to related Diplomatic efforts

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and sailors aboard the USS Lake Erie conducted a successful flight test of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system on February 13, announced the US Department of Defense. It resulted "in the intercept of a medium-range ballistic missile target over the Pacific Ocean by a Standard Missile-3 Block IA guided missile," a statement detailed. This "flight test" was "the 24th successful intercept in 30 flight test attempts for the Aegis BMD program since flight testing began in 2002," the MDA explained, adding that across all Ballistic Missile Defense System programs, this was the 58th successful hit-to-kill intercept in 73 flight tests since 2001.

Such developments occurred less than 24 hours after a third successful nuclear test by North Korea. They also gave coherence to years of diplomatic efforts that have aimed at pre-positioning Aegis systems around the globe, in accordance with the objectives of the US military alliances – like NATO – and the US international commitments – like the New START Treaty with Russia though serious bilateral disagreements remain.

On January 15, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta announced the deployment of four Aegis ships to Rota, Spain. "The home-porting of four Aegis-equipped destroyers to Rota, which I announced on my first trip to Europe as secretary, is a key US commitment of NATO," he said. "The purpose of that is to fulfill our commitment to the European ballistic missile defense system," On the other side of the world, the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) have been setting up interoperable ballistic missile defense capabilities such as Patriot and Aegis, said Army Gen. James D. Thurman, the commander of US and United Nations forces in the ROK.

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