December 20, 2005 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
The Missile Defense Agency today issued a press release announcing the emplacement of the tenth Ground-Based Interceptor. The interceptor missile was put into a silo at Fort Greely in Alaska on December 17. The event marks the eighth interceptor deployed in Alaska; two others are at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The emplacement on December 17 is four years to the day after the White House issued a statement saying that the president had ordered the deployment of ballistic missile defenses.
The MDA press release noted that “Another interceptor missile will be emplaced in January 2006, followed by additional interceptors by the end of 2006.” The January emplacement date would appear to have been recent: an MDA press release of December 13 said that “Two additional interceptor missiles are scheduled for deployment at Ft. Greely by the end of this year.” The exact number now scheduled to be deployed in 2006 was not specified in either release. Today’s press release also, curiously, states that “In the interest of operational security, future interceptor emplacements will not be announced.”
The December 17 emplacement comes just four days after a successful test launch of a GBI missile from the Ronald Reagan Test site in the Marshall Islands, and three years to the day after the December 17, 2002 statement by the White House that the President had ordered the operational capability of these missile defenses in “2004-2005.” (Article)
» December 17, 2002: White House orders missile defense operational in 2004-2005
» December 16, 2002: National Security Policy Directive (NSPD) 23, ordering operational deployment of missile defenses in 2004 and 2005
» More stories on: Deployment
» Missile system details for: Fort Greely
