The United States reported a success in its latest flight
test of a national missile defense program.
The Missile Defense Agency said the Defense Department-sponsored test
succeeded in intercepting a modified Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile target vehicle
launched on late Monday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This
was the fifth successful intercept since October 1999 and the fourth
consecutive successful test as part of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense
development program.
Congress has agreed to allocate $6.9 billion for missile defense in
fiscal 2003. The mid-course program is meant to defend against ballistic
missiles attacks by such countries as Iran and North Korea, Middle East Newsline reported.
Officials said the interception took place in the Pacific Ocean near the
Marshall Islands during the midcourse phase of the target warhead's flight.
They said the interception was reported at an altitude of more than 140
miles [225 kilometers] above the earth.
"This system-level test successfully demonstrated hit to kill technology
to intercept and destroy a long-range ballistic
missile target," the agency said in a statement. "This test is a major step
in an aggressive developmental test program, and we will continue to pursue
this testing regime to achieve a layered approach to missile defense, using
different architectures to deter the growing threat of ballistic missiles
carrying weapons of mass destruction."
The agency said the test also demonstrated the integration of space and
ground-based sensors and radars. This included the Battle Management,
Command, Control and Communications System, meant to detect the launch of
the target missile, follow its path and provide target data to the
interceptor.
For the first time, the Pentagon included a U.S. Navy Aegis destroyer,
the USS John Paul Jones, in the missile defense test. The destroyer used its
SPY-1 radar system, which was not integrated into the battle management
system for the intercept.
"Future tests will include direct participation of the radar in order
to determine its potential capability against long-range missiles," a
Pentagon statement said.
