September 7, 2006 :: Air Force Times :: News
Scott Fancher, vice president and program director of Boeing’s ground-based midcourse defense program, said Tuesday at a press conference that future ground-based interceptor (GBI) tests will be made “increasingly challenging.” He referred to the successful test on September 1, when a GBI launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, shot down a target missile in mid-flight, as “the beginning of an ever more increasingly challenging test series” that will involve “very realistic flight conditions,” including the use of countermeasures. Fancher echoed the remarks of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who said on August 27 that the anti-missile system would have to be fully tested with all its elements in place before it is declared ready. The next test of the ground-based system is planned for later this year and will be identical to the September 1 test, although tests in 2007 are expected to be more complex.
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