U.S. Missile Defense Test Fails
 

U.S. Missile Defense Test Fails
Latest Setback in Pacific Fuels Doubts About System's Future

By Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 16, 2004; Page A05

The Bush administration's effort to build a system for defending the country against ballistic missile attack suffered an embarrassing setback yesterday when an interceptor missile failed to launch during the first flight test of the system in two years.

Pentagon officials could not immediately explain the reason for the failure. They said some kind of anomaly prompted the automatic shutdown of the launch sequence just 23 seconds before the interceptor was due to take off from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific. Plans had called for the interceptor to soar into space and knock down a mock warhead fired from Kodiak Island in Alaska about 16 minutes earlier.

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:helpme

at least we have a backup plan

http://www.iapht.unito.it/giocattoli/images/fionda.jpg

Thats why they have tests to fix this shit. Perhaps they should test more often.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

does that really surprise you ?

last week or so a helicopter in texas went down killing people on board and civilians.

not surprised if they can barely fly copters in civilian territory, i doubt they can take out a missile.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh

:1orglaugh

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh

And no, it's not a canadian sling shot :2 cents:

Regardless of this specific 'glitch' and whether or not it will be resolved, the overall concept of MD is seriously flawed.

It requires an embarrassing amount of financial resource (which is by no means in surplus) to address an extremely limited (and guaranteed to be obsoleted but not due to the technology) aspect of national security.

There are so many other risks that will go unaddressed (not to mention shameful national social conditions - illiteracy, medicare, poverty).

There are numerous existing and emerging potential threats that are likely to take the spotlight, and the proposed MD expenditures (bottomles money pit - like the IRAQ war), while constent with the irrationality of a war mentality, are disproportionate to the actual problems it attempts to 'fix'.

Even if they figure out how to jump start their stalled wagon - the whole concept is insane.

It takes a lot less resource to prosper through goodwill than to defend oneself from the consequences of building badwill.

:2 cents:

-Dino