LIHU'E, Kaua'i — The Aegis cruiser USS Lake Erie, in a ballistic missile test yesterday, shot down a short-range ballistic missile while at the same time defending itself from an aircraft rocket.

"This was a very complex test, but any properly equipped Aegis cruiser or guided-missile destroyer can do what the Lake Erie did," said Rear Adm. Brad Hicks, Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense program director for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

It was the eighth successful intercept out of 10 flight tests for the program. A similar test to this one was called off in December 2006 because of improper settings aboard the Lake Erie. That problem has been resolved, Hicks told The Advertiser.

He said the next Aegis test is scheduled in early summer. He would not characterize the details of that test, except that it will be the first to involve an Aegis-equipped guided-missile destroyer. Previous tests have used cruisers like the Lake Erie.

"We want to keep pushing the envelope, and none of the tests get any simpler for us. Each one is a step up in complexity," he said.

In yesterday's test, a target single-stage ballistic missile was launched at 11:31 a.m. from the Pacific Missile Range Facility. At the same time, a Navy aircraft dropped a drone designed to mimic an aircraft missile attacking the Lake Erie.

The Lake Erie tracked both threats, developed solutions for knocking them down and fired interceptors against them one minute after their launch. It fired a Standard Missile-3 at the ballistic missile and a Standard Missile-2 at the drone. Both intercepted their targets three minutes after the targets were launched.

In the case of the SM-3 missile, the intercept was an actual collision with the target rocket, which occurred 100 miles high, roughly 250 miles northwest of Kaua'i. That system is called hit-to-kill technology

The SM-2, which would use explosives to knock down its target in a battlefield situation, simply flew close enough to its target to have destroyed it if explosives had been used. It intercepted the drone 15,000 feet up and 37 miles from the ship.

The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense program is jointly run by the Missile Defense Agency and the Navy, with Lockheed Martin Maritime Services as the main contractor for the Aegis gear, and Raytheon Missile Systems the prime contractor for the Standard Missile program.

Roughly 100 observers and technical personnel came to Kaua'i for the missile test.

Another Missile Defense Agency program, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense program, is also tested at the Pacific Missile Range.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.