DOD To Add Countermeasures To Target Vehicles

Tests of a proposed US missile defense system -- which to date, pardon the pun, have been somewhat hit-or-miss -- are about to become a lot more difficult.

Agence-France Presse reports following a successful test of the system September 28, the Pentagon authorized use of countermeasures in the target vehicle, to determine if such decoys will thwart the interceptor missile. Critics contend such measures, such as decoy balloons, could easily fool the system.

The last test -- the ninth conducted so far -- incorporated objects the warhead had to sort through to identify the dummy target. In footage of the test shown to reporters by US Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry "Trey" Obering, the interceptor missile -- launched from Vandenberg AFB in California -- successfully passed by unidentified debris, as well as the target vehicle's booster rocket, to intercept the target.

"We did not have countermeasures on this flight," he said, adding "we will put them on the next flight," which might occur as early as February or March 2008.

The Air Force hopes a successful test next year will qwell criticism of the defense system, as it works to install a missile defense site in Eastern Europe -- to the consternation of Russia.

Obering said Russian officials watched the September 28 test with him in Washington. "We do know we scored a direct hit on the warhead," Obering said.

The target missile, launched from Alaska, was inflight for about 24 minutes, Obering said. The Interceptor flew for about seven minutes, before locking onto the target via infrared imaging.

It was the sixth successful interception, of nine tests conducted using the ground-based missile intercept system. "We have not had a major problem now in over two years," Obering said (a planned test earlier this year was halted by failure of the target missile.)

Most heartening for proponents of the system, were the number of associated tracking systems which also performed as designed during the September 28 test. Those include the Upgraded Early Warning Radar at California's Beale Air Force Base, the sea-based X-Band radar, and the Aegis destroyer USS Russell and its SPY-1D radar.

USAF General Gene Renuart, head of the US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) Command, said the test also validated operation procedures to be used in the event of a real-life attack -- including the method of obtaining launch authorization.

"We can’t go too far" [up the chain of command], Renuart said, explaining a presidential order is not needed to launch a defensive missile. "A response is needed in minutes.

"I’m fully confident that we have all of the pieces in place that if we needed to, we could respond," he added.

FMI: www.norad.mil