NOTE: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=47658
U.S. Missile Defense System on Target, Generals Say
By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2007 – The U.S. missile defense system intercepted a warhead during a test over the Pacific Ocean last week, boosting military officials’ confidence in the program’s ability to neutralize threats from missile-wielding nations like North Korea and Iran.
During a news conference at the Pentagon today, Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry A. “Trey” Obering III, director of the Missile Defense Agency, and U.S. Northern Command Commander Air Force Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr. discussed the successful Sept. 28 interception exercise. In a test designed to replicate a missile attack from North Korea, operators launched a warhead from Kodiak, Alaska. Land- and sea-based radars tracked the missile for 24 minutes before a 60-foot interceptor launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., flew for seven minutes and blasted the missile to bits.
“We think that this builds more and more confidence with respect to (the question), ‘Does the system work?’” Obering said. “The answer is yes.”
During the exercise, the target’s trajectory was monitored by radar onboard an Aegis-class ship floating southwest of the missile launch site using SPY-1 radar, and a separate ship located farther south and equipped with fledgling X-band radar technology. The Upgraded Early Warning Radar at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., also tracked the target as it flew south from Alaska.
Obering showed reporters video footage of what he called a “textbook success.” The montage displayed missile silos blooming open as the Orbital Boost Vehicle inceptor blasted off to meet the target. Infrared cameras captured the interceptor’s high-speed technicolor collision with the missile.
Renuart noted that the exercise also demonstrated successful coordination at U.S. Northern Command, where authority to engage the defense system resides. Officials there received ample time and adequate information from radars tracking the target, he said.
“It … allowed us to validate that the procedures we built up over time are, in fact, appropriate for the kinds of threats that this system is designed to defeat,” he said. “So from the operational perspective, the soldiers in the field, the system, the command-and-control capability, the integration of those information systems, it was also a very positive event for us, as well.”
Overall, the $100 billion program, which began in 1983 and has been tailored to offset North Korean and Iranian threats, has hit 30 of 39 missiles launched. The Sept. 28 exercise marks the system’s sixth successful interception in the nine tests conducted since 2001.
Obering said he thinks this most recent success will help counter arguments made by NATO partners that the system is unproven.
“I think it helps us in a very real way because, as I have conversations with our European partners and allies and NATO partners in the past, one of the questions I do get asked is, ‘Well, this system is not proven, (and) it doesn’t work, right?’” he said. “And I think this goes a long (way) to answering that question.”
Countering European criticism is strategically important as U.S. officials attempt to export the missile defense program to Poland and Czech Republic. Placing silos in these countries would help establish sound missile defense geometry against an Iranian threat, Obering said.
“It allows us to establish a track on those missiles, … generate a fire control solution of what we call a weapons task plan, launch the interceptor, and then engage that missile with lethal velocity,” he said. “You can’t just go up there and kiss these things; you have to hit them hard enough to destroy them.”
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=47651
Coalition Raids Kill One, Net 10 Al Qaeda in Iraq Agents
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2007 – Coalition forces killed one terrorist and detained 10 suspects during a series of raids targeting al Qaeda in Iraq in central and northern Iraq today, officials reported.
— An armed terrorist was killed by coalition troops during a raid targeting al Qaeda in Iraq leaders in Kirkuk. Information found at the site enabled coalition forces to target and capture a suspected al Qaeda leader operating in Tamim province. The detainee is linked to explosively formed penetrator attacks on coalition forces and local car-bombing attacks.
— Coalition forces captured the alleged al Qaeda in Iraq leader in Muhmadiyah believed to be involved in weapons facilitation and attacks against coalition forces. Two other suspected terrorists also were detained.
— Intelligence gained during previous operations led coalition forces to Tarmiyah, where they captured three suspected terrorists, including an alleged associate of an al Qaeda in Iraq leader.
— Coalition forces east of Balad targeted an associate of al Qaeda in Iraq believed to be responsible for coordinating attacks against coalition and Iraqi security forces in Salah ad Din province. One suspect was detained.
— Coalition troops in Samarra targeted an associate of an al Qaeda in Iraq senior leader who was killed Sept. 10. Two suspected al Qaeda agents were detained.
“Every day we’re removing terrorists from the ranks of al Qaeda in Iraq,” said Army Maj. Winfield Danielson, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman. “We will continue to pursue individuals who facilitate and conduct attacks against the Iraqi people.”
A citizen-provided tip yesterday led U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) troops to an enemy weapons cache southwest of Rushdi Mullah. The cache contained 53 82 mm mortar rounds, four 60 mm rounds, eight 80 mm rockets, 26 68 mm rockets, an OG-7V rocket, and 200 sticks of propellant. The weapons cache was destroyed.
In other recent operations, coalition forces detained five suspected insurgents and destroyed a car bomb during a Sept. 30 raid south of Baghdad. U.S. paratroopers with 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, teamed up with Iraqi soldiers to conduct the early-morning raid. The detainees are linked with recent attacks on an Iraqi army checkpoint.
The Iraqi troops detained the suspects after finding an AK-47 rifle with four fully loaded magazines, a shotgun, more than 500 meters of command wire, IED-making electronic components, and insurgent propaganda in the house where the suspects were found. The raid also netted a 5-ton truck being rigged as a mobile bomb. An explosives-detecting military dog detected explosives residue on the vehicle, and a coalition airstrike destroyed the vehicle.
Troop B Commander Army Capt. Donald Braman saluted the Iraqi soldiers’ performance. “The Iraqi army soldiers who are part of the scout platoon, after just three days of training, were just as good as our guys,” he said.
“Every time we go out and take the fight to the enemy, we disrupt them, make his life uncomfortable,” Braman continued. “The life of an insurgent isn’t an easy life. When they are on the run, they have to sleep in open fields, in canals. They get tired. As long as they know we are coming after them, they can’t sleep easy.”
Elsewhere, coalition troops discovered a weapons cache while conducting area searches south of Baghdad on Sept. 30. U.S. soldiers of Company A, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, found the cache in a buried plastic barrel. The cache contained a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher, seven rocket-propelled grenades, four Iranian hand grenades, an AK-47 rifle with four full magazines, more than 400 machine gun rounds, 20 mortar primers, a set of body armor and 13 RPG propellant charges.
(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)