[Launch Alert] Missile Defense Test Planned

[Launch Alert]

The following media advisory was issued by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency


Missile Defense Test Planned

The Missile Defense Agency, U.S. Air Force 30th Space Wing and U.S. Northern Command plan to conduct an interceptor flight test July 5 to exercise the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element of the nation's Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). The GMD element provides defense of the Homeland against the threat of limited long-range ballistic missile attacks.
 
The test involves launching a target missile from Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and an interceptor missile from Vandenberg AFB, Calif.  This will be an operational test of the first-generation Capability Enhancement I (CE-I) Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV), currently deployed in Alaska and California, and will involve soldiers, sailors and airmen operating the system and providing test support.