U.S. Plans:  Pentagon Testing Official Says Missile Defense Not Ready

In a report sent to Congress this month, the Pentagon’s top weapons testing official said the national missile defense system that the White House plans to deploy in 2004 “has yet to demonstrate significant operational capability” (see GSN, May 6, 2002).

The Ground-based Midcourse Defense system is still in its early stages and suffers “from a lack of production-representative test articles and test infrastructure limitations,” according to Thomas Christie, the Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation.

The report says that the testing limitations are a result of the Missile Defense Agency’s slow and cautious pace.

“The GMD program is taking a slower, more deliberate approach to testing to reduce both testing and program risk,” Christie said.

The report agrees with the Missile Defense Agency’s decision to stop intercept testing until an operational booster is developed, Inside Missile Defense reported.

Christie said the missile defense test bed, being built in Alaska, will answer some but not all questions about the program.

“Currently the planned test bed infrastructure for block 2004 includes hardware and software components that are in active development,” the report says.  “As the test bed matures and capabilities are demonstrated, an inherent defensive capability will develop.  However, it will be very difficult to estimate operational availability or performance in real engagement conditions.  This is a test bed, first and foremost,” the report adds (Thomas Duffy, Inside Missile Defense, Feb. 19).

Testing Waiver Sought

The Pentagon is currently seeking a waiver to exempt the missile defense system from standard testing requirements (see GSN, Feb. 14), a move that has raised concern from lawmakers and experts who recalled Pentagon efforts last year to reduce the information it provides to Congress on missile defense programs (see GSN, Aug. 9, 2002).

“The moves last year were just about reporting requirements.  This is different,” said Philip Coyle, director of operational testing and evaluation for the Defense Department from 1994 to 2001.  “This is about obeying the law.  Without these tests, we may never know whether this system works or not, and if they are done after this system is deployed, we won’t know until we’ve spent $70 billion on a Ground-based Missile Defense system,” he added.

Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Carl Levin (Mich.) and Jack Reed (R.I.) have voiced their concerns with the proposed waiver.

“I believe that any deployed missile defense system must meet the same requirements and standards that we set for all other fully operational weapons systems.  Indeed, given the potential cost of a failure of missile defense, I believe that, if anything, it should be required to meet more stringent test standards than normally required,” Feinstein wrote in a letter to Rumsfeld Wednesday (Esther Schrader, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 24).

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Japan:  Tokyo to Deploy Missile Detection Satellites

A Japanese newspaper has reported that Japan is set to launch its first pair of intelligence satellites by the end of next month, the Chicago Tribune reported today (see GSN, Nov. 12, 2002).  Japan is scheduled to launch the two spy satellites March 28 and they will provide the country with a missile launch-detection capability, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Chicago Tribune, Feb. 23).  Currently, Japan is dependent on U.S. and French commercial satellites for intelligence information on objects such as North Korean missile launch pads, according to Agence France-Presse.

The first pair of spy satellites will also be equipped with optical sensors able to identify objects one-meter long, AFP reported.  Japan is also scheduled to launch three additional pairs of spy satellites by March 2007 (Agence-France Presse, Feb. 21).

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