Posted on 12/15/2004 7:09:59 PM PST by wagglebee
WASHINGTON (AP) - An experimental interceptor missile failed to get off the ground in a test of the U.S. national missile defense system early Wednesday, raising new doubts about prospects for the imminent activation of the system.
In the test, a target missile, a simulated ICBM with a mock warhead, was launched without problem from Kodiak, Alaska, at 12:45 a.m. EST, a statement from the Defense Department's Missile Defense Agency said.
However, 16 minutes later, an "unknown anomaly" led to an automatic shutdown of the interceptor missile shortly before it was to launch from the Ronald Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean.
The target missile crashed into the ocean.
The agency gave no other details and said program officials will review pre-launch data to determine the cause for the shutdown. Most missile launching systems are designed to shut down automatically as a safety feature, but it was unclear what tripped the system, officials said.
The test was the first full test of the system in nearly two years. The Missile Defense Agency has attempted to conduct the test several times this month, but scrubbed each one for a variety of reasons, including weather problems and a malfunction on a recovery vessel not directly related to the equipment being tested.
Philip Coyle, the Pentagon's former chief of testing who has become a critic of the Bush administration's missile defense plans, said the cause of the failure could have been anything from a software glitch to a major hardware malfunction.
He called the failure a "serious setback."
During the test, the interceptor was not necessarily supposed to strike the target missile, officials said, but it was possible. Instead, the primary goal was to collect data on the interceptor's performance. Wednesday's test was also to have been the first in which the interceptor used the same booster rocket that the operational system would use.
Because it didn't fire, it is possible the interceptor could be used again in a future test. The $85 million test was not immediately rescheduled, nor was it clear whether it would affect the follow-on test, scheduled for the spring. A primary goal of the follow-on test would be an actual intercept.
Two previous tests scheduled for this year were delayed due to technical problems. In earlier testing, which critics derided as highly scripted, the interceptors went five-for-eight when launched with the goal of hitting target missiles.
It was unclear how the failure would affect plans to put the missile defense system on alert sometime in the next two weeks. The Bush administration had made it a goal to activate the system by the end of 2004.
"Since we don't know the cause of the anomaly, we won't speculate on potential impacts to either beginning initial operations or conducting future tests," said Rick Lehner, a spokesman for the Missile Defense Agency.
The operational system will initally rely on interceptors based at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., as well as radars in Alaska, California, at sea and in orbit.
Coyle said, "This latest failure to intercept a target shows again that the system being deployed in Alaska has no demonstracted capability to work" against a real attack.
If the failure is linked to the new booster, it is likely that the military will have to fix the boosters on the missiles already already in the silos, delaying activation of the system, he said.
Officials have said the system is technically able to track targets, but that the interceptors have mechanical blocks that prevent them from firing. These will be removed once senior military officials have worked out chain-of-command authorities governing who could order the launch during a crisis.
The operational system - which will also be used for continued experimentation - is built around the perceived intercontinental ballistic missile threat from North Korea, although it could be used against missiles launch from elsewhere in eastern Asia.
The booster that failed is old technology. Since the dang thing never got off the ground the new technology thyt are testing never got the chance to be tested.
This is the 2nd booster failure that I know of to date, plus one failure to seperate from the kill vehicle.
All those were failures of 20 year old technology
That's why you have tests - (to identify and correct problems)
The one with the kill vehicle was that someone forgot to turn the cryo cooling on the sensor before launch, right?
AP sounds like they are happy to report this. Small, mean minds!
The AP is also reporting Rummy's comment about Klintoon gutting the military like it is an allegation and not a fact. The AP has been actively degrading SDI as either the prelude to armageddon or an overpriced failure for 20 years. So yeah, I'm sure they are delighted about this.
Not only that, but wouldn't a missile defense system have dozens (hundreds?) of missiles availabe at several sites? If one missile failed, simply assign another to it. However, in a real situation, there would in reality be several missiles launched at the same target to ensure a kill.
This was posted at least twice today...by trolls.
You are correct.
I find it amazing that booster and speration technology that we acomplished in the 60s is to blame for 3 of these failures.
What really gripes me is the press points to those failures as proof that the NMD concept is flawed
it wont be operational by the end of the year.
There are tons of tests to be done.
I think most of the earlier tests were done on an atlas centaur booster. the new booster went into use last year I think.
I have no idea. I just read a lot of war books like the Dragon's Fury series by Jeff Head.
Well, that settles it. This thing is never going to work so we just might as well save our money and spend it on homeless people instead. We might need to budget a little more $$ to teach them Korean, since that would be coming down the pike unimpeded in a short while.
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