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Missile defense test goes well

The U.S. military fires a rocket carrying a mock warhead, then shoots it down with another missile.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 2, 2006

LOS ANGELES - An interceptor missile destroyed a mock warhead over the Pacific Ocean on Friday in a key test of the nation's missile defense system, officials said.

It was the most realistic test of the systems that would be used against an attack, said Missile Defense Agency spokesman Rick Lehner.

The 54-foot interceptor shot out of an underground silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central California coast at 10:39 a.m. local time, 17 minutes after the mock warhead was launched from Kodiak Island, Alaska, Lehner said.

The interceptor carried a refrigerator-sized "kill vehicle" that locked on to the approaching mock enemy missile and flew into the 4-foot-long warhead at 18,000 mph.

Lehner said both disintegrated more than 100 miles above the Earth and a few hundred miles west of Vandenberg. The interceptor's flight lasted 13 minutes.

The test was designed to see whether the "kill vehicle" could get close to the warhead to test the tracking and sensor systems which would be used in an actual missile attack.

"It gave us a good chance to measure overall system performance. It was the most operationally realistic test we've had," Lehner said.

The interceptor was launched by remote control from a command center in Colorado. The test also was the first use of an early warning radar at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., to provide the data required to put the interceptor on a proper path toward its target.

Data from the test will take several weeks to review, Lehner said.

The $85-million launch was postponed from Thursday after fog blanketed Kodiak Island. There was also fog over Vandenberg on Friday morning but it burned off.

More than $100-billion has been spent on America's missile-defense system since 1983 and it has been the subject of criticism by those who call it a costly boondoggle. There also have been allegations that early tests were rigged or their success exaggerated. The Pentagon says the technology used in those tests is not part of the current research program.

Critics also suggested early on that the demise of the Soviet Union made a full-scale missile attack on the U.S. unlikely. Supporters say the U.S. still is vulnerable to missiles from rogue states.

In July, North Korea unsuccessfully test-fired a missile that was believed capable of reaching the northwestern U.S. coast.

There have been nine intercept tests since 1999, and five were successful in hitting the target, Lehner said.

An actual intercept test is set for the end of this year or in early 2007, officials said.

[Last modified September 2, 2006, 01:18:25]