Test Failure Sets Back U.S. Missile Defense Plan

[AnIndependentTexan]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=570&ncid=753&e=4&u=/nm/20041215/sc_nm/arms_missile_usa_dc

41 minutes ago

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites)'s drive to deploy a multibillion-dollar shield against ballistic missiles was set back on Wednesday 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 (news - web sites)'s vision of an space-based missile defense that critics dubbed "Star Wars."


The interceptor missile never left its silo at Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, shutting itself down automatically because of an "anomaly" of unknown origin, the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s Missile Defense Agency said.


About 16 minutes earlier, a target missile had been fired from Kodiak, Alaska, in what was to have been a fly-by test chiefly designed to gather data on new hardware, software and engagement angles, said Richard Lehner, a spokesman.


For instance, a booster built by Orbital Sciences Corp. was to have been exercised for the first time in the way it would actually be fielded. One of the test's goals was to show it was ready for production.


"Obviously it isn't," said Philip Coyle, who was the Pentagon's chief weapons tester under President Bill Clinton (news - web sites), "and now they also will have to fix the boosters that have been installed in silos in Alaska and Vandenberg" Air Force Base, California.

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