This June 25, 2008 handout image courtesy of the US Missile Defense Agency shows a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) being launched at the Pacific Missile Range Facility off the island of Kauai in Hawaii. Lieutenant General Henry ?Trey? Obering, Missile Defense Agency director, announced Wednesday the completion of a successful ?hit to kill? intercept in partnership with the US Army for the Terminal High Altitude AreaDefense (THAAD) missile defense test element. The test involved the intercept of a separating target (mock warhead separated from the booster rockets) in the ?midendoatmosphere? (inside the earth?s atmosphere). The target, representing a threat ballistic missile, was launched from a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft flying over the Pacific Ocean at 4:16 p.m. Hawaiian standard time (10:16 p.m. EDT). Approximately six minutes later the interceptor missile was launched from a mobile THAAD launcher on the range facility. This was the 35th successful hit-to-kill intercept of 43 attempts in the atmosphere and in space since 2001, and was the 29th of 30 successful tests conducted since September 2004. AFP PHOTO/HO/US MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY = = RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE = = GETTY OUT= =