The Missile Defense Agency and the Navy have completed a successful “hit to kill” missile defense test off Kauai, Hawaii, launching a Standard Missile-3 from an Aegis-class cruiser, USS Shiloh, on June 22. The test was the seventh successful intercept test in eight attempts involving the sea-based component of the system, according to MDA officials. It was the first time out for the refitted Shiloh and was the first time an ally participated in a US Aegis intercept test. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force provided one of the three Aegis destroyers used in the test.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall doesn’t see great value in trying to break the Sentinel ICBM program off as a separate budget item the way the Navy has with its ballistic-missile submarine program, saying such a move wouldn’t create any new money for the Air Force to spend on other…