Birds have lucky escape from missile-test target

Two birds were filmed catching a lucky break after they escaped being blown to pieces when the container ship they were resting on at sea was hit by a Tomahawk missile.

The US Navy was performing a long-range guided missile test off the coast of California in January, testing its capability of hitting moving targets at sea while piloted from a tailing jet.

The guided Tomahawk was fired from the missile destroyer USS Kidd and flew an unspecified distance just metres above the sea's surface.

Its target was a moving vessel loaded with a wall of shipping containers.

Flying high above was an F/A-18 Super Hornet which kept track of the projectile, adjusting its trajectory as it moved to ensure it hit the moving target, USNI News reports.

Sitting on top of the target were two pigeons, taking a rest on the large ship sitting out in the ocean.

One of the video cameras placed around the vessel to record the impact also captured the birds take-off from their perch in the spilt second before the Tomahawk hit.

Slow-motion footage shows the birds being thrust about in the air as they furiously flap their wings to escape the fiery blast.

Lucky for the pigeons, the missile was being tested on how it would puncture the hull of a ship and did not explode upon contact.

The test provided a possible short-term solution to the US Navy's problem of hitting moving targets without putting friendly vessels in danger.

It is intended to be a stopgap solution until a new generation of weapons comes online.