Interceptor-missile test ends in failure
Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2004 9:43 am
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Art...tional/Americas
U.S. President George W. Bush's drive to deploy a multibillion-dollar shield against ballistic missiles was set back yesterday by what critics called a stunning failure of its first full flight test in two years.
The abortive $85-million exercise raised fresh questions about the reliability of the first elements of the plan, an heir to former president Ronald Reagan's vision of a space-based missile defence that critics dubbed Star Wars.
The interceptor missile never left its silo at Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific, shutting down automatically because of an "anomaly" of unknown origin, the Pentagon's Missile Defence Agency said.
About 16 minutes earlier, a target missile had been fired from Kodiak, Alaska.
All eight of the system's intercept tests have fallen far short of replicating realistic war scenarios, experts inside and outside the government have said.
Whoops.
Archived topic from Anythingforums, old topic ID:1442, old post ID:18249
U.S. President George W. Bush's drive to deploy a multibillion-dollar shield against ballistic missiles was set back yesterday by what critics called a stunning failure of its first full flight test in two years.
The abortive $85-million exercise raised fresh questions about the reliability of the first elements of the plan, an heir to former president Ronald Reagan's vision of a space-based missile defence that critics dubbed Star Wars.
The interceptor missile never left its silo at Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific, shutting down automatically because of an "anomaly" of unknown origin, the Pentagon's Missile Defence Agency said.
About 16 minutes earlier, a target missile had been fired from Kodiak, Alaska.
All eight of the system's intercept tests have fallen far short of replicating realistic war scenarios, experts inside and outside the government have said.
Whoops.
Archived topic from Anythingforums, old topic ID:1442, old post ID:18249
