Missile Shield Setback
The Pentagon's missile defense program suffered a setback early Wednesday when an interceptor failed to separate from its booster rocket and missed its target high above the earth.
The failure broke a string of successes for the program, which has recorded four straight hits on tests of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense, otherwise known as the national missile defense, which aims to blast ballistic missile out of the sky as they arc between launch-pad and target.
A Pentagon statement blamed the failure on a booster rocket that was used for the final time in this test. To date, the Missile Defense Agency has been using what it calls a surrogate booster while development continues on the real booster that will propel the exoatmospheric kill vehicle, or EKV, on its path toward the target missile.
The test took place at about 3:26 a.m. EST, when a target rocket was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Twenty minutes later and 4,800 miles away, the EKV and its booster launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Because the EKV could not separate from the booster, it apparently was not able to acquire the target. Cheryl Irwin, a Pentagon spokesperson, was quick to point out that the interceptor didn't miss. "The EKV did not have the opportunity to make an interception," she said.
The Pentagon statement also applauded the performance of the rest of the missile defense system during the test, saying "radars and other sensors, as well as the battle management, command, control and communication elements that are vital in the GMD development effort" performed according to plan.
"USS Lake Erie, an Aegis cruiser, successfully tracked the target missile after launch, and the Airborne Laser, a modified Boeing 747 aircraft, successfully used an installed infrared sensor to detect and track the boosting target missile after launch," the statement read.
According to Irwin, the target rocket, the booster and the kill vehicle might have broken up in the atmosphere or plunged into the sea, or, more likely, were destroyed when test observers pressed a destruct button.
This was the eighth test of the national missile defense system. The first, in 1999, was a success. The next two failed. Four tests in the past two years have succeeded, the most recent in mid-October. Each test costs about $100 million, Irwin said.
The recent successful tests have countered widespread criticism that the system could not be made to work.
This is the second failure attributed to the use of the surrogate booster rocket. Two designs for the actual booster rocket are nearing completion, and will be tested this spring. Irwin said all future tests will use one of these prototypes. The next test has not yet been scheduled.
The missile defense system consists of several different development programs aimed at creating anti-missile measures for each stage of a missile's flight. While the national missile defense targets the missile's flight, another system is designed to knock missiles down during their ascent. The MDA conducted a successful test of this early-stage system in November, with an interceptor fired from a warship.
The defense appropriations bill signed by the president in October provided $7.4 billion for the missile defense program.
The system's technological viability is not the only concern of critics, who question its strategic implications and cost.
Some have warned that it could spur China into increasing its nuclear arsenal, which might entice China's rival India to do the same, in turn encouraging Pakistan to boost its stockpile.
The entire project is expected to cost around $60 billion, but earlier this year, the Congressional Budget Office concluded the real cost may be much higher — over $230 billion.
By Jarrett Murphy