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PHOENIX -- Three New Mexico missiles created a spectacular predawn light show Thursday in the Valley.

Calls flooded the 92.3 KTAR Newsroom phone lines after the trail of fuel and smoke was lit up by the sunrise.

Drew Hamilton with the White Sands Base in New Mexico said a Juno missile was launched from Fort Wingate near Gallup toward White Sands and a pair of missiles brought it down.

"We were testing the Patriot Advanced Capability 3. The Juno was the target and they fired two Patriots from White Sands to successfully intercept it."

Hamilton said the tests are infrequent.

Vandenburg Air Force Base, three hours north of Los Angeles, is also missile-testing Thursday, according to 2nd Lt. Kaylee Ausbun at that base.

An Atlas V is scheduled to launch 2:39 p.m. The missile may or may not be visible in the Valley.

Jim Cross, Reporter

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  • Abuse
    AZLUVR93 wrote...
    SUUUUUUUURRE!!!
    September 13, 2012 8:08 am
    A missle test. Uh huh. Likely story. Thats why they dont tell us about it before hand. They came up with the story after it happened.
  • Abuse
    Rassam wrote...
    Yea
    September 13, 2012 9:58 am
    And look at that crooked path it took. What missle goes in a crooked line like that? Any why would they launch them just before dawn? They could get a good nights sleep if they launched them at 10am or so. Must be something else going on here.
  • Abuse
    wrote...
    As soon as..........
    September 13, 2012 10:55 am
    I saw that a missile had been launched early today from White Sands, I had to see what the comments would be on the KTAR website for this story - it's always entertaining to see what the paranoid nut cases have to say.
  • Abuse
    MightyPluto wrote...
    Missle or UFO
    September 13, 2012 3:53 pm
    Look to me like it didn't come from ground up. As I and whoever else saw it it was coming from orbit like a meteor then as it was burning up tried to go up and just as it was going up dissintegrated. Didn't see no explosion or poof just left a rainbow of sizzle.
  • Abuse
    archrock wrote...
    why they launch them at night....
    September 13, 2012 4:00 pm
    several reasons..... they have less air traffic to worry about. they are easier to track at night. the upper winds are now as fast, because the sunlight heats the upper part of the sky. also why the trails are crooked, the upper winds blow and distort the trails of gases. in using two missiles to shoot one down, first requires all the missiles to be traveling at an escape speed to enter the upper part of the sky...and then be able to track each target and close or change the track to efectively hit the target missle.
  • Abuse
    greatbison wrote...
    Here come the conspiracy nuts
    September 14, 2012 4:52 am
    Conspiracy theories are what happen when people who don't know how things work speak. The trail left behind is very consistent with a missile/rocket launch. Why is it crooked? Winds aloft. Winds at high altitudes are very fast. They can also rapidly change direction at different altitudes. That is why the trail left behind is crooked. If you really want to believe that it's aliens and some kind of cover up, then go right ahead... you just may be an Arizona resident if you do.
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