Target Missile Test-Launched From Alaska

Associated Press ^ | Feb 23, 8:13 PM EST | RACHEL D'ORO

[BenLurkin]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A missile rose more than 100 miles into the atmosphere from Alaska's Kodiak Island Thursday in the first of several tests planned this year for the national missile defense system.

The 35-foot missile traveled about 2,500 miles over the Pacific Ocean toward the California-Mexico border before splashing down, said Missile Defense Agency spokesman Rich Lehner.

The purpose was to test upgrades to early warning radar installed in 1980 at Beale Air Force Base in northern California.

"Everything went very well," Lehner said. "There were 26 test objectives and every one of them was met."

An attempt to fire the 18-ton rocket on Tuesday was aborted because a "power anomaly" interrupted electricity at the launch pad at the Kodiak Launch Complex, according to Lehner.

The radar at Beale tracked the target missile and transmitted data to commanders at Colorado Springs, Colo. An actual ballistic missile interceptor was not involved. The exercise included a simulated launch from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, one of two interceptor sites. The other is at Fort Greely, near Fairbanks.

Three additional tests this year will involve missile launches from Kodiak and interceptors from Vandenberg.

About $100 billion has been spent on missile defense since 1983, including $7.8 billion authorized for the current fiscal year.

Thursday's successful test was the second following a series of failures that raised questions about the Bush administration's multibillion system.

Before a successful test in the central Pacific in December, interceptor tests failed five out of 11 times. The last two failures, in 2004 and 2005, prompted a halt to interceptor installations.

Under the defense plan, interceptor missiles would eventually be linked to a network of satellites, radar, computers and command centers. The envisioned system would detect and track enemy warheads and initiate the interceptors to destroy them.

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