American and Australian forces conduct a missile defense test off Kauai

Kevin Knodell, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Updated ·4 min read
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Apr. 1—The U.S. and Australian militaries have conducted a successful missile intercept test off of Kauai.

The U.S. and Australian militaries have conducted a successful missile intercept test off of Kauai.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency, in cooperation with the U.S. Navy and Australian forces, successfully conducted an intercept of a medium-range ballistic missile test target on Thursday using a Standard Missile-6—or SM-6—with a special software upgrade. The missile was launched from the USS Preble, an American destroyer equipped with the Aegis missile defense system.

The ballistic missile target was fired from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai.

According to a news release from the MDA, the test "represented the most robust participation in an Aegis test to date by U.S. ally Australia, who leveraged the event to demonstrate their own capabilities with participating air, land, and sea assets. In addition, USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125 ), the first Flight III Aegis Destroyer equipped with SPY-6 radar, successfully participated in this critical event in support of its Initial Operational Test and Evaluation campaign."

"This successful intercept against an advanced threat-representative target in the final stages of flight demonstrated the power and flexibility of the Aegis Weapon System paired with the Standard Missile 6, " said MDA Director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins in the release. "MDA is very grateful and honored to have Australia participate in this important test and we look forward to further collaboration with them in the future as we work together with all of our allies to maintain deterrence in the Indo-Pacific."

The Australian military's participation included a demonstration of radar capabilities of its ANZAC Class frigate the HMAS Stuart, which together with an Australian E-7 Wedgetail aircraft helped with communications and gathering data. Australian sensors also provided target track data.

"This was a unique opportunity to work closely with the U.S. MDA and U.S. Navy as they tested the Aegis Weapon System's ability ... while we simultaneously observed the performance of our own systems, " said Australian Defence Force Chief of Joint Operations Lt. Gen. Greg Bilton. "It is a great example of our deepening defence engagement with the U.S. and an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the Australian Defence Force's interoperability with the U.S. Navy."

The test took place amid a backdrop of tensions across the Pacific as the U.S. and its allies compete with China, North Korea and Russia to build more advanced missile systems, as well as systems to counter them. China has been working to grow its nuclear arsenal and develop new hypersonic missile systems designed to evade American missile defense systems.

Missile threats became a household issue in Hawaii on Jan. 13, 2018, when a false-alarm missile alert went out to cellphones across the state. The alert came during tensions as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and then-U.S. President Donald Trump traded threats and insults, with Trump boasting he would unleash "fire and fury " on the Korean Peninsula.

There are longstanding questions about the ability of missile defense systems to actually detect and intercept ballistic missiles before impact in a real-life scenario as compared to a training exercise, particularly if the scenario involves multiple missile launches. Many analysts and activists have argued that diplomacy to prevent a launch from ever happening should be the focus.

Trump would eventually hold two fact-to-face meetings with Kim. While the two praised each other personally, the meetings led to little resolution. In 2022, North Korea launched 95 ballistic and other missiles—more than any previous year—in a historic show of force.

In response the U.S., South Korean and Japanese militaries have stepped up joint training operations around the Korean Peninsula. North Korea accused the countries of aggression and in February Kim Yo Jong—the prominent sister of Kim Jong Un—said North Korea would turn the Pacific Ocean into a "firing range " as a response to the exercises. Both sides continue to accuse the other of provocation.

Since the beginning of the year North Korea has launched multiple rockets and cruise missiles and conducted several artillery firing drills.

During a March 18 event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in D.C., the Biden Administration's Deputy Assistant Secretary of East Asia, Jung Pak, said "we want dialogue, and there are lots of valuable discussions " to have with North Korea, including ways to de-escalate tensions.