Text: U.S. To Conduct Missile Defense Test March 15
(Test is sixth in series, according to Pentagon) (520)
The United States will conduct its sixth ballistic missile defense
test March 15 at a test range over the Pacific Ocean, according to the
Pentagon.
In this test, a missile interceptor will be fired from the Ronald
Reagan Missile Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands to
hit and kill a modified Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic
missile carrying a mock warhead launched from Vandenberg Air Force
Base in California, according to the Pentagon.
Following is the text of the Pentagon announcement:
(begin text)
United States Department of Defense
PRESS ADVISORY
March 13, 2002
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) will conduct a developmental flight
test to include the planned intercept of a long-range ballistic
missile target in support of the missile defense test program on March
15, 2002. The planned flight test launch window is scheduled for 9
p.m. to 1 a.m. EST [3 a.m. to 7 a.m. GMT on March 16].
The test will involve the launch of an Orbital Suborbital Program
(OSP) long-range missile from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. The OSP, a
modified Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile, will carry a
mock warhead and three balloon decoys. About 20 minutes after the
target missile is launched, and about 4,800 miles away, a Payload
Launch Vehicle missile carrying a prototype exoatmospheric kill
vehicle (EKV) interceptor will launch from the Ronald Reagan Missile
Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
About 10 minutes later the intercept should take place at an altitude
of approximately 140 miles above the central Pacific Ocean during the
midcourse phase of the target warhead's flight.
This will be an integrated system test, with all representative system
elements participating: space-based missile warning sensor;
ground-based early warning radar, the prototype X-Band radar at
Kwajalein Atoll and the battle management, command, control and
communications system located at Kwajalein Atoll and the Joint
National Integration Facility in Colorado Springs, Colo. Since the
system is in its research and development phase, these elements serve
as either prototypes or surrogates for system elements which are in
the developmental stage and have not yet been produced for actual
operational use.
This will be the sixth intercept test of the Ground-based Midcourse
Defense (GMD) system (formerly National Missile Defense) research and
development program. The first test on October 3, 1999, resulted in
the successful intercept of a ballistic missile target. The second
test took place on January 19, 2000, and did not achieve an intercept
due to a clogged cooling pipe on the EKV, but did successfully test
the integrated system of elements. The third test, on July 8, 2000,
did not result in an intercept due an unsuccessful separation of the
EKV from the booster rocket. The fourth test, on July 14, 2001,
achieved a successful intercept of a ballistic missile target. The
fifth test, on December 3, 2001, also resulted in a successful
intercept.
Sources