May 25, 2007 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
Technical problems with a target missile derailed a highly anticipated U.S. test of its missile defense system on Friday. The test missile, a former Polaris submarine launched ballistic missile, was launched at 7:00 PM from Kodiak Island in Alaska, but due to problems with the target missile's flight, the interceptor at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California was never launched to intercept it, and is thus recorded as a "no test" of the Ground Based Interceptor system. “We were not able to get the target downrange far enough or high enough to present a threat to the system,” said agency Director Lt. Gen. Henry Obering. “It fell well short of the intended area. The system itself never had a chance to recognize it as a threat, and so did not respond to the target.” “There is always a risk of this occurrence since we are flying old intercontinental ballistic missile motors in our targets,” Obering said in a Missile Defense Agency press release. “We have initiated a target modernization program, within our existing budget which should mitigate these risks for the future. … We will attempt to repeat this test this summer.” (Article)
» More stories on: Testing - American
» Missile system details for: Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI), Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD)
