Aided by STSS, US Navy Intercepts a Missile Mid-Course

choi

Press release: Aegis Missile Defense System Intercepts Target in Test. US Department of Defense (DOD), Feb 13, 2013 (40 minutes ago).
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=119281

My comment:
(a) The release states, "At 4:10 am EST, a unitary medium-range ballistic missile target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii."

Missile Defense Agency, under DOD, has an almost identical press release, which helpfully adds Hawaii Standard Time (HST): "At 11:10 pm HST (4:10 am EST)."

Hawaii–Aleutian Standard Time
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haw ... utian_Standard_Time
(b) The significance is the successful tracking (done before) --which results in a successful HIT, which is FIRST--of the target missile by

Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS).
http://www.as.northropgrumman.com/products/stss/index.html

Otherwise, nothing new (such as Aegis, interceptor SM-3)