SWING AND A MISS: You won’t see any mention of yesterday’s failed test of a new interceptor missile on the Missile Defense Agency’s website, which lists the results of every other test of the Aegis system since 2002. CNN, which was first to report that the Standard Missile-3 missed a target missile, quoted officials saying the secrecy surrounding the test was to avoid fanning tension with North Korea, as the Winter Olympic Games are about to begin. The Missile Defense Agency did not respond to an email from the Washington Examiner, but CNN quoted spokesman Mark Wright as confirming a test took place at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii.

The test was the first of the Aegis Ashore system, basically a land-based version of the Aegis system in place on U.S. destroyers and cruisers. It’s what the USS John Paul Jones used to shoot down a target missile in August. Aegis Ashore is part of the midcourse layer of U.S. missile defense, and is designed to defeat short to intermediate-range missiles. It is due to be deployed soon in Poland, and eventually in Japan, which has helped in the development of the SM-3 Block IIA interceptor.