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U.S. to Test European Interceptor Booster Rocket
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has scheduled testing next year of a booster rocket intended to be used in missile interceptors planned for deployment in Europe, Inside Missile Defense reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 27). A missile intercept test is also scheduled for 2010. Both tests are part of an effort to convince Congress to allow funding for the program to deploy 10 missile interceptors in The Bush administration is continuing negotiations with both nations to house installations it says are needed to counter an Iranian missile threat. President George W. Bush and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek yesterday failed to come to an expected agreement on the radar base. They said, though, that a deal is close to being realized. Congress for this fiscal year barred the Missile Defense Agency from using funds for the European interceptors until the weapon “has demonstrated, though successful, operationally realistic flight testing, a high probability of working in an operationally effective manner” (see GSN, Dec. 12, 2007). “They want to see flight test results of the two-stage missile,” said retired Rear Adm. Dave Altwegg, deputy operations director at the Missile Defense Agency. Testing is being moved up by one year to meet that demand, he said. The agency intends to conduct two tests before deploying the rocket boosters, spokesman Rick Lehner told InsideDefense.com. “The first is a booster verification test and the second an operationally realistic intercept test,” he said. One critic of “If the first test is not scheduled until 2009 and will not try to actually hit a target, that test won’t suffice,” said former Defense Department testing chief Philip Coyle. “This first test will not be operationally realistic as it will only be a simple test to show that the booster can push the interceptor out into space.” He said the subsequent interceptor test would occur under “idealized” rather than “operationally realistic” circumstances. “Before wasting their time and money, it would be logical for NATO, Meanwhile, the Missile Defense Agency this week also sought to counter Government Accountability Office questions about testing of the Ballistic Missile Defense System, Inside Missile Defense reported. Paul Francis, GAO acquisition and sourcing management director, said in a Feb. 26 congressional hearing that the agency could not “assess whether MDA met its overall performance goal because there have not been enough flight tests to provide a high confidence that the models and simulations accurately predict BMDS performance. “Moreover, the tests done to date have been developmental in nature, and do not provide sufficient realism for DOD’s test and evaluation director to determine whether BMDS is suitable for and effective for battle,” Francis added. The system includes ground-based interceptors deployed in Lehner said by e-mail that “we believe our flight tests exhibit as much operational realism as possible within range, safety and environmental constraints, and the warfighter concurs with this assessment. We also believe our flight tests provide ample data to properly anchor our modeling and simulation, and to measure element performance” (John Liang, Inside Missile Defense II, Feb. 27).
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