'Non-Intercept' Missiles Fly
The U.S. Defense Department conducted two tests Thursday of important elements of the proposed national missile defense system in preparation for another attempt to shoot down a target in space.
In the first test, a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launched from a California air base released 20 objects in flight to test the ability of a prototype ground-based radar to distinguish among them. In a real missile intercept mission, the radar's role would be to keep an intercepting missile on a collision path with its target and not allow it to be fooled by decoys around the target.
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, the Pentagon office in charge of the program, said preliminary indications are that the prototype radar successfully distinguished among the 20 objects in space.
The radar is situated on Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean.
The second test, conducted about two hours after the first, also involved a Minuteman III missile launched from Vandenberg. It was designed to test elements of the national missile defense system—such as an "in-flight interceptor communication system" used to send information from the ground radar to the interceptor missile—that will be used in the next attempt to shoot down a mock warhead in space.
Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said that next test is expected to be conducted early next year. Until recently that test was scheduled for November, but the timing has slipped due to technical problems.
The two previous intercept attempts failed, most recently in July.
On Sept. 1, President Bill Clinton announced that more testing was needed before he could have enough confidence in the technical feasibility of national missile defense to authorize the start of construction.
Mr. Clinton said it would be up to the next president to decide whether and when to go ahead. His decision effectively ended missile defense supporters' hope of having a system ready for use by 2005.
Russia and China, which strongly oppose the system, welcomed Mr. Clinton's decision, as did European allies who fear developing the weapon could touch off a new arms race.
Bacon said Thursday's tests show that the Pentagon is moving ahead with development work even though deployment has been put off.
"We're on our normal schedule to continue development of a national missile defense system," he said.
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