Decoy Target Fails in Missile Test

The Defense Department’s Missile Defense Agency said. That the ground based interceptor missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, destroyed a long range ballistic missile launched from Kodiak, Alaska, However, one key aspect of the test was to see whether the system could tell the difference between a missile and a decoy aimed at the interceptor to confound its “seek” systems, had failed because the decoy did not deploy.

Officials told CNN that the test would be the most realistic of the thirteen missile shield system tests conducted so far with eight of the thirteen tests having been judged as successful by the Pentagon. This particular test was the first where a crew at an alternate fire controls center in Alaska had remotely launched the interceptor missile from California.

According to the Defense Department, all components of this test performed as expected, but critics have always complained that the tests are not realistic, because they don’t involve simple decoys such as balloons or other items that could easily fool the interceptor. However, in Friday’s test the target was a mock warhead and was supposed to be accompanied by counter measures similar to what Iran or North Korea could deploy, according to a missile defense agency official. The intention was for the interceptor’s kill vehicle to distinguish the target from the decoys, but the decoy that was supposed to deploy to test the system malfunctioned, and the Pentagon blamed the 40yearold target system.

“Countermeasures are very difficult to deploy and we have had trouble deploying them in the past,” said Lt. Gen. Patrick J. O’Reilly, director for the Missile Defense Agency. He said that the interceptor did differentiate between the actual missile target and the upper stage of the missile from which it had detached.

This test, which had been delayed several times, comes at a crucial time for the $100 billion system, as President elect, Barack Obama, is about to take office.

Previous to his election, Obama pledged to “cut investments in unproven missile defense systems,” however he later said he would support missile defense systems if they operate properly. Obama said in the 26th September presidential debate,  “The biggest threat to the United States is terrorists getting their hands on nuclear weapons, and we are spending billions of dollars on missile defense, so I actually believe that we need missile defense, because of Iran and North Korea and the potential for them to obtain or to launch nuclear weapons.”

Friday’s test also showed the Pentagon that multiple sensor systems were able to network together and home in on a single object, and Lt. Gen. Patrick J. O’Reilly said,  “With all those sensors working together, at any one time the system knew which sensor was reporting what, tracked it, and gave the “war fighter’’ one presentation of a target.” O’Reilly also said soon after the test was finished. “That was one tremendous accomplishment for us.” Last month, the outgoing head of the Missile Defense Agency said that not only are U.S. missile defenses workable, they are up and running. “Our testing has shown not only that can we hit a bullet with a bullet, we can also hit a spot on the bullet with a bullet. Lt. Gen. Trey Obeying said “Our technology has caught up.”