Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
Posts: 35656

It was always a bit ambitious to plan to have it operational by end of 2004 (even if this test had worked, circumventing it would only require launching during bad weather, it seems). Looks like a 'known unknown' is to blame.

On reflection, it might be a good thing that it wasn't declared operational, given that even in the best conditions it isn't really reliable enough. A false sense of security is worse than none at all.

quote:

---

Missile defence shield test fails

The first test in almost two years of the planned multi-billion dollar US anti-missile shield has failed.

The Pentagon said an interceptor missile did not take off and was automatically shut down on its launch pad in the central Pacific.

A target missile carrying a mock warhead had been fired 16 minutes earlier from Kodiak Island in Alaska.

The Pentagon is spending $10bn a year on the missile system, which was meant to be in operation by the end of 2004.

The Missile Defence Agency said an "unknown anomaly" was to blame for the system shutting down.

A spokesman said officials would now study data from the launch site at Kwajalein Atoll, in the Marshall Islands, to establish what went wrong.

In earlier tests, target missiles have been successfully intercepted in five out of eight attempts.

Wednesday's trial had been put off four times because of bad weather at launch sites and, on Sunday, because a radio transmitter failed.

A Pentagon spokesman told Reuters news agency the test had not been tied to the question of when the national missile defence system would be declared operational.

Philip Coyle, chief weapons tester under former US President Ronald Reagan, told Reuters: "This is a serious setback for a programme that had not attempted a flight intercept test for two years."

The goal, announced by US President George W Bush in 2002, was to have a basic ground-based shield in place by the end of this year.

The last test, in December 2002, failed when the interceptor missile did not separate from its booster rocket.

The programme has been nicknamed "son of Star Wars" after the original Strategic Defence Initiative - or "Star Wars" - outlined by President Reagan in the 1980s.

---

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: b0ulder
Posts: 5128

For $10,000,000,000 I'll design you a volcanic death ray.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
Posts: 35656

10 billion a year, no less.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: Just to the right of the moon
Posts: 3141

The Russians have subverted the system anyway

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
Posts: 35656

Wheras the North Koreans will have to wait for bad weather before launching their strike.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: b0ulder
Posts: 5128

I wondered about the weather thing.

My girlfriend's grandpa worked on an early warning satellite system in Siberia. He helped build the station and manned it for a year or something. He also helped build the first lunar probe that flew around the moon and took pictures before the first manned mission. He is also a super hero.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Aug 2002
Location: Pere Ubu land
Posts: 1080

Mission Accomplished!



err

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2001
Location: China
Posts: 11795

It sounds like a miserable failure.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Aug 2002
Location: Pere Ubu land
Posts: 1080

"There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee...that says, fool me once, shame on...shame on you. Fool me...you can't get fooled again."

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: here stupid!
Posts: 1907

quote:

---

The Missile Defence Agency said an "unknown anomaly" was to blame for the system shutting down.

---

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Cambridge
Posts: 7113

quote:

---

Originally posted by Smug Git
Wheras the North Koreans will have to wait for bad weather before launching their strike.

---

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Nov 2000
Location: Burleson, Texas
Posts: 520

I am shocked......!!!

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26420

BTW, when they say:

"In earlier tests, target missiles have been successfully intercepted in five out of eight attempts."

They mean, "When we put friggin' homing beacons in the target missiles, only fire them in good weather and optimal conditions in Alaska, and not allow them to deploy decoys (which all intercontinental ballistic missiles employ), we only completely fail 40% of the time."

Feel that? That's safety, baby.

10 billion dollar a year safety. Oh yeah.

__________________

[Ignore Sig]

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged