Missile Interceptor Tests on Hold

Tests on U.S. missile interceptors have stopped while investigators work to determine the causes of two failed launches in December and February, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported yesterday (see GSN, May 12).

Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency, told a Senate subcommittee Wednesday that recommendations from independent reviewers for improving the tests are being implemented (see GSN, Feb. 15).

“I can assure you that while these test aborts were major disappointments, they were not major technical setbacks,” Obering told the subcommittee. “Neither you, the American public nor our enemies will believe in our ground-based ICBM defense until we demonstrate its effectiveness by successfully conducting additional operationally realistic flight tests.”

The agency is moving ahead with plans this year to install 10 additional interceptors at Fort Greely in Alaska, the News-Miner reported. An X-band radar is also expected to be placed at the Aleutian Islands (Sam Bishop, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, May 12).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.