In the first full-scale test of the ballistic missile defense system in more than a year, an interceptor rocket launched from California on Friday shot down a target fired from Alaska that officials said in some respects resembled a warhead from a North Korean rocket.
U.S. military forces launched a rocket interceptor that destroyed a mock warhead in outer space, giving the Pentagon a much-desired win in its costly and controversial effort to develop a defense against long-range missile strikes.
Missile defense proponents view North Korea's firing of seven missiles as the first real test of the new U.S. ground-based missile defense, even though the failure of the long-range Taepodong-2 seconds after launch prevented the Pentagon from responding with a U.S.-based interceptor.
After an embarrassing series of test failures in the ambitious, expensive and highly criticized program to build a national missile-defense shield, the U.S. military is slowing the deployment of interceptors while it conducts more testing.
The first test in almost two years of the planned multi-billion dollar US anti-missile shield has failed, possibly delaying the deployment of the system.
The Pentagon is set to declare operational soon a multibillion dollar system intended to defend America from attack by ballistic missiles, but which critics say will not work.
An independent review of the multibillion-dollar U.S. ballistic missile shield due to start operating by Sept. 30 finds that it is technically incapable of shooting down any incoming warheads.
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Confused by multiple radar signals in a crowded airspace, the Army's Patriot antimissile system probably created false tracks of incoming enemy missiles and automatically fired, killing three allied jet pilots during fighting in Iraq a year ago, according to MIT physicist Theodore Postol.
Independent analysis shows that the U.S. Patriot missile defense system is regularly malfunctioning and bringing down friendly aircraft.
The Pentagon's top weapons evaluator reported that setbacks in the Bush administration's effort to develop a national missile defense system are likely to make it difficult to assess the system's effectiveness ahead of its planned deployment in September.