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Pentagon: National Missile Defense Test Over Pacific Ocean a Success
By Associated Press
posted: 07:00 am ET
04 December 2001
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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. military says it completed its third successful missile defense test, knocking a dummy warhead out of space more than 100 miles over the South Pacific. Monday night's successful test means the Pentagon can move on to more complex and realistic trials of the missile defense system, which the military says is necessary ``to deter the growing threat of ballistic missiles carrying weapons of mass destruction.'' Critics say the tests are too costly and unrealistic, arguing that long-range missiles are a minor threat. Missile defense backers, including President Bush, say hostile nations could develop and aim long-range missiles at the United States. An interceptor missile launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands collided with the dummy warhead at about 10:30 p.m. EST, the military said. The test was nearly identical to a successful one in July. Bad weather had blocked the test launch on Saturday and Sunday and delayed Monday's missile launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., for nearly an hour. A modified Minuteman II missile took off from Vandenberg at 9:59 p.m. EST, the Pentagon said. Instead of explosives, its warhead carried sensors to track its progress during the test. The dummy warhead also carried a large balloon to be jettisoned in an attempt to fool the interceptor _ a tactic that the interceptor in this test successfully ignored. After 22 minutes, the interceptor missile was launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific. That missile carried a ``kill vehicle'' that homed in on the dummy warhead to collide at 15,000 mph and destroy it in space. Critics say the fact that the interceptor, before its launch, got precise location data from the dummy warhead makes the test unrealistic. The head of the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, said last week the test was designed to test only certain parts of the interceptor system and was not meant to be realistic. Monday's test is the fifth in the missile defense program. The interceptor knocked down a dummy warhead in two of the four previous tests. Each test costs about $100 million. Russia has objected to the U.S. missile defense program, saying it will eventually violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty. That pact bans missile defense systems so that a nation could not develop a shield behind which it could safely launch a missile attack. Bush and Russian President Valdimir Putin failed to agree on a plan to change or scrap the treaty during their November summit.
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