WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. missile defense system managed by Boeing Co yesterday hit a simulated enemy missile over the Pacific in the first successful intercept test of the program since 2008, the U.S. Defense Department said.
The intercept will help validate the troubled Boeing-run Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system which provides the sole U.S. defense against long-range ballistic missiles, and the Raytheon Co kill vehicle that separates from the rocket and hits an incoming warhead.
“This is a very important step in our continuing efforts to improve and increase the reliability of our homeland ballistic missile defense system,” said Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Director Vice Admiral James Syring.
He said the agency would continue its ongoing drive to ensure that the ground-based interceptors and overall homeland defense system were effective and dependable.
Reuters reported on Friday that the Pentagon is restructuring its $3.48 billion contract with Boeing for management of the missile defense system to put more emphasis on maintenance and reliability.
Sunday’s high-stakes test came after the system had failed to hit a dummy missile in five of eight previous tests since the Bush administration rushed to deploy the system in 2004 to counter growing threats by North Korea.
Earlier this month, Syring said that another test failure would have forced the Pentagon to reassess its plans to add 14 more interceptors to the 30 already in silos in the ground in Alaska and California.
During the test, a ground-based interceptor launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, hit a target built by Lockheed Martin Corp that was launched from the U.S. Army’s Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, according to the Pentagon and Lockheed.
Lockheed said the unarmed 45-foot (14-meter) target was configured to closely mirror the capabilities of ground-launched missiles that can travel 3,000 km to 5,000 km (1,800 to 3,400 miles).
