Missile Defense Failure
The first test in nearly two years of a multibillion-dollar U.S. anti-missile shield failed on Wednesday when the interceptor missile shut down as it prepared to launch in the central Pacific, the Pentagon said.
About 16 minutes earlier, a target missile carrying a mock warhead had been successfully fired from Kodiak Island, Alaska, according to a statement from the Missile Defense Agency.
The aborted $85 million test appeared likely to set back plans for activation of a rudimentary bulwark against long-range ballistic missiles that could be fired by countries like North Korea.
In 2002, President Bush pledged to have initial elements of the program up and running by the end of this year while testing and development continued.
An “anomaly” of unknown origin caused the interceptor to shut down automatically in its silo at the Kwajalein Test Range in the Marshall Islands, said Richard Lehner, a spokesman for the Pentagon’s missile agency.
The test followed a week of delays caused by weather and technical glitches, including malfunction of an internal battery aboard the target missile on Tuesday, he said.
Reuters: U.S. Missile Defense Test Fails
If you’re pro-defense, you’ll likely see this as an indication that we need to work harder on the system. If you’re anti-defense, you’ll likely see this as an indication that we should forget about the whole thing. Which position do you think has been taken by the radical Left in this country? Thanks for your input, morons. Because maybe you’re right… the sure way to ensure this country’s security is to try not to piss off the bad guys and to spend all our money on socialist welfare programs. Don’t f***ing tell me how many lazy homeless people could be fed if we scrapped the missle defense system. Tell me how many lives could be saved by scrapping the redistribution of wealth nonsense and spending that money on ensuring the safety of American citizens.
