Missile Defense Test Is A Bust | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

 Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-05.19.25

Airborne-NextGen-05.20.25

AirborneUnlimited-05.21.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-05.22.25

AirborneUnlimited-05.23.25

Thu, Dec 16, 2004

Missile Defense Test Is A Bust

Interceptor Failed To Launch

The first full-blown test of the missile shield in almost two years fizzled on the pad Wednesday when the interceptor rocket shut itself down just prior to launch. That could spell setback for plans to deploy an early version of the missile defense by the end of the year.

"This is a serious setback for a program that had not attempted a flight intercept test for two years," said Philip Coyle, the Pentagon's chief weapons tester under President Ronald Reagan, in an e-mail exchange with Reuters.

In announcing his plan for a missile defense in 2002, President Bush said a rudimentary version of the system would be operational by the end of this year, even as the military continued its development. But Wednesday morning's "anomaly" automatically shut down the interceptor while it was still in its silo on Kwajalien Atoll in the Pacific.

The last test, in December, 2002, also ended in failure when the 120-pound kill vehicle failed to part from its booster rocket.

FMI: www.acq.osd.mil/mda/mdalink/html/mdalink.html

Advertisement

More News

NTSB Prelim: Lee Aviation LLC JA30 SuperStol

A Puff Of Smoke Came Out From The Top Of The Engine Cowling Followed By A Total Loss Of Engine Power On May 9, 2025, about 1020 mountain daylight time, an experimental amateur-buil>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Curtiss Jenny Build Wows AirVenture Crowds

From 2022 (YouTube Edition): Jenny, I’ve Got Your Number... Among the magnificent antique aircraft on display at EAA’s AirVenture 2022 was a 1918 Curtiss Jenny painstak>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.30.25): Very High Frequency (VHF)

Very High Frequency (VHF) The frequency band between 30 and 300 MHz. Portions of this band, 108 to 118 MHz, are used for certain NAVAIDs; 118 to 136 MHz are used for civil air/grou>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (05.30.25)

“From approximately November 2021 through January 2022, Britton-Harr, acting on behalf of AeroVanti, entered into lease-purchase agreements for five Piaggio-manufactured airc>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Quest Kodiak Enhances Migration Monitoring Programs

From 2008 (YouTube Edition): US Fish and Wildlife Service Chooses The Kodiak To Monitor Waterfowl Populations Waterfowl all over North America may soon have to get used to a new ab>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Change Display

Headlines Only | Headlines w/ Teasers | View Everything

Advertisement

Top Videos

Airborne 06.02.25: Isaacman UN-Nomination, 28K' Paraglider Flt, Williams Builds

Airborne 05.30.25: Anti-Helicopter Bill, PW Strike Done, All-Electric Bristell

Airborne 05.29.25: ATC Bonu$, VX4 eVTOL Flies, Starship 9 Test

See All

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC