Zitat:Missile Defense Test Failed As Support Arm In Silo Failed To Clear: General

Washington (AFP) Mar 10, 2005

An interceptor missile failed to fire in a missile defense test last month because a support arm in the silo did not clear when it was supposed to, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday.

Air Force Lieutenant General Henry Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency, said the program to field a system capable of intercepting long-range ballistic missiles was going through "a period of disappointment."
...

Zitat:Das Aegis Missile Defence System


hat kürzlich die ersten fünf Standard-Missile- 3-Flugkörper (SM-3) erhalten. SM-3- Flugkörper bilden das Kernelement des Aegis Missile Defense Systems. Die Flugkörper gegen ballistische Raketen mit kurzer und mittlerer Reichweite werden auf den Aegis- Kreuzern und -Zerstörern der U.S. Navy installiert, die die sogenannte "sea-based-line of defense" bilden werden. Diese Flugkörper gewährleisten eine Abwehrmöglichkeit gegen ballistische Raketen während ihrer Flugphase ("midcourse phase of flight"). Auch Japan wird seine Aegis-Zerstörer der KONGOU- Klasse mit diesen Flugkörpern ausrüsten.

(Strategie und Technik – 02/2005)

Zitat:Defense Scientists Call For Halt To Missile Defense Deployment Funding

Washington (AFP) Apr 07, 2005

A group of top US scientists, including nine Nobel Prize winners, called on Congress Thursday to stop funding deployment of interceptor missiles for a controversial ground-based missile defense system, saying it was incapable of defending against a real attack.

In a letter, they said the funding should be eliminated until the system can be shown to work through tests that mimic real-world conditions.
...

Zitat:Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has let chaos reign in his $22.663 billion ballistic missile and other space defense programs, and he needs to take a hands-on administering role in sorting out the mess, according to a recent GAO report. (...)

Zitat:Was in Science-Fiction-Filmen fast schon selbstverständlich ist, soll auch
bald das Arsenal der US-Streitkräfte bereichern: Laserwaffen, um Ziele
mit Lichtgeschwindigkeit und hoher Genauigkeit auch über große Entfernungen
hinweg zu bekämpfen. Vor allem der Airborne Laser der
US-Luftwaffe ist hierbei zu nennen. Ein erfolgreicher Einsatz könnte
die Kriegsführung revolutionieren. ...

Zitat:Missile Defense Prepped; Kim Yawns

So the U.S. has decided to turn on its Alaska-based missile defense system, in response to North Korea's impending launch. Kim Jong-il ain't exactly quaking in his boots, I imagine.

The Ground-based Midcourse Defense system hasn't successfully intercepted a missile since October of 2002. Five of its last ten flight tests, it flunked. And the last two times it tried to hit an oncoming missile, the interceptor didn't even leave the ground. Things have gotten so bad that the Missile Defense Agency's independent review team concluded last year that more tests may only undermine the GMD's value as a deterrent. (Here's a comprehensive list of all of the GMD tests -- past, current, and future -- from the Center for Defense Information.) ...

Zitat:UPDATE 01:42 PM: "This 'missile defense system initiated' shit is the biggest yawner of a story all day," says one knowledgeable source. "I'm exaggerating... but it takes approximately two seconds to flip those sorties to operational."

Zitat:Missile Defense Test Today

Talk about good timing. "A sea-based missile defense test flight will take place today off Kauai amid reports North Korea may be prepping to test-fire a long-range missile over the Pacific," the Honolulu Advertiser notes. "The Kauai test is part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Program and had been scheduled for months."

The test is for "for short- and medium-range ballistic missile intercepts," the Advertiser reports -- not intercontinental missiles, like the so-called Taepodong-2 that's got everybody's panties in a bunch. "It involves the Pearl Harbor-based cruiser Lake Erie, one of three such ships capable of shooting down ballistic missiles. ...

Zitat:U.S. Military Intercepts Missile in Test

The Associated Press
Thursday, June 22, 2006; 8:03 PM

HONOLULU -- A Navy ship on Thursday intercepted a medium-range missile warhead above the earth's atmosphere off Hawaii in the latest test of the U.S. missile defense program, the military said.

The Missile Defense Agency said the test had been scheduled for months and was not prompted by indications that North Korea was planning to test launch a long-range missile. ...

Zitat:Missile Defense Scores ... Finally

After several failed test shots and a seven-year flight hiatus, the Army's Terminal High-Altitude Air Defense missile system (THAAD) hit a Hera target this morning over the White Sands range in New Mexico.

Specific test objectives included demonstrating the integration of the radar, launcher, fire control and communications and interceptor operations; demonstrating kill vehicle control in response to in-flight uplinks; and target acquisition and tracking by the interceptor’s seeker. ...