Missile may be launched from Cheney's secret bunker.
Posted on 11/13/2004 6:07:18 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
WASHINGTON--The military installed its sixth and final interceptor of the year at Fort Greely on Thursday, but the ground-based, mid-course missile defense system has yet to be declared in working form.
The 55-foot interceptors at Fort Greely, 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks, are designed to shoot down a warhead launched by an enemy missile from overseas.
The Bush administration had pushed to start up the system this fall, a goal that some critics saw as political. The 2004 general election went by, though, without the sixth interceptor in place and with no declaration of "initial defensive capability," as the military calls start-up.
"The decision process with that is going to be with the leadership at Strategic Command and Northern Command," said Maj. Eric Maxon, spokesman for the Missile Defense Agency in Alaska. "We've laid the groundwork and we've got the interceptors in place at Fort Greely."
The military began installing interceptors in July. It had to fly the first one to Eielson Air Force Base because the Allen Army Airfield at Greely was being repaired to handle the large aircraft that would deliver the missiles. One other missile was diverted to Fairbanks because of smoke, Maxon said.
The system is operated and guarded by about 130 members of the National Guard's 49th Missile Defense Battalion.
"Those crews are on station and highly trained and conducting their mission and ready for operations when that decision is made," Maxon said.
Testing of how well the system actually shoots down a missile continues at other sites, including a state-owned launch site on Kodiak Island.
No interceptors will be launched from Fort Greely under current testing plans, due to the proximity of people.
Ten more interceptors will go into silos at the fort next year. Those silos have been excavated and are being prepared now, Maxon said.
Long-term budget documents from the MDA indicate another 10 will go to Fort Greely in following years. The site has enough room for 40.
In the news release announcing the sixth interceptor, the MDA included its standard description and disclaimer: "Although the system will initially have a limited capability when it becomes operational later this year, it will mark the first time the United States has a capability to defend the entire country against a limited long-range ballistic missile attack."
Critics have scoffed at that assertion, saying the system has not been tested to the degree necessary to make such a claim. Five of eight intercept attempts have connected with dummy missiles, but the critics say those were not conducted under real-world conditions. An X-band radar destined for Adak in Alaska's Aleutian Islands is not done yet, nor is a new system of satellites used for detection of enemy launches.
Military leaders insist that having something is better than nothing. Improving the system while using it is the most prudent policy, they say.
Reporter Sam Bishop can be reached at (202) 662-8721 or sbishop@newsminer.com
used to go up to Greely in the wintertime to train...near Black Rapids...man o man, that is some cold, isolated territory...
Yes it is. I spent 3 years at Eielson,
I'm worried. This missile defense doesn't pass the global test. Will that get us in trouble?
BTTT
good job .....
Missile may be launched from Cheney's secret bunker.
LOL!
"used to go up to Greely in the wintertime to train...near Black Rapids...man o man, that is some cold, isolated territory..."
Yes, it is cold and isolated territory. Our area already had -28 last weekend, although it did warm up to the 20's today.
Of course this is the Check-Mate to North Korea.
Never let it be forgotten that John Kerry said we should have tackeled N. Korea before Iraq. Given his way, He would have set us on a collision course with N.Korea BEFORE this shield was in place.
There are several more pieces of this project to be completed. The idea is well thought out, and probably way more capable than our public tests have revealed. It takes away that "One Chance" that the N.Koreans have to hit us with a supprise attack. (Death wish as that would be)...
I remember...it was the most difficult, challenging training I have ever endured...I was a Platoon Sgt in the Engineers back in the late '80's...we spent three weeks at a time up there (up from Anchorage)...I have tremendous respect for that environment, and the folks who live there...although I loved Alaska, with it's beauty, solitude...no place like it anywhere in the world...
a great installation...
Happy belated Veteran's day to you! Thank you for your service, nicko! There are times during the darkest, coldest months of winter that we sometimes look at each other and say, "what are we doing here?" LOL I remember when my dad was up here for a visit he used to refer to our everyday life as "just another day in paradise". :)
They're hiding the real truth from us...that an E-3 has to go out and place a fire barrel under the thing for half and hour before it will kick over.
Never in the history of this country, until now, has there ever been a ballistic missile defense system (yes, we almost had one until Carter surrendered it). It is a well known fact that newly deployed weapon systems have bugs, some caused by design and some by unforseen circumstances. In fact, these systems mature, like the Wright Flyer, the Minuteman, the B-52, and the boomer fleet because visionaries took the risk and overcame the obstacles.
In the case of President Reagan's missile defense system, he had the vision. In the case of President Bush, he took the political risk. In reality, we would always have been hostages to nuclear missile attack until they took action unlike their predecessors, from Truman to Carter and Clinton. One constitutional function of the office of President is "To provide for the common defense".
Presidents Reagan and Bush have taken that task seriously and they have done it well.
The cynicism of this article is shameful.
thank you for the kind words...everything is relative...my father fought in Korea in the winter of 1950; just a kid who loved tennis, and got caught up in the Chosin Campaign...he told me once that he was thankful just to be able to stop and lie down for a while...I was pretty happy in Alaska; there was much compensation in the beauty of the landscape...it sort of made up for the things we were doing...a fair trade- and as I write this, I discover a revelation of sorts...of all the places I've written about (poetry), to include Asia, and Africa, home, and other places... I've never written about Alaska- it must be because I was content there...
Well, we did have an ABM system for one day until Congress voted to kill the program. Safeguard was designed to protect our Minuteman missile silos but the problem was the Spartan missile and its 5 megaton warhead. The Spartan's warhead was designed to kill incoming warheads using x-rays and other radiation. If we used it to stop a Soviet first strike, we would have been unable to launch a retaliatory strike with our ICBM's due to the radiation created by the Spartan warheads. Our ICBM's would have been fried right along with the Soviet ones.
I think you are wrong.
I also don't appreciate their providing the North Koreans with an installation sitrep that they might not have had otherwise (since the Russians and Chinese are not cooperating with them in this confrontation with us).
Care to back up that statement?
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