Boeing Missile-Defense Interceptor Fails to Launch
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- A Boeing Co. interceptor missile failed to launch during a test of the U.S. ground-based missile-defense system today because of an ``unknown anomaly,'' the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said.
The interceptor, designed to stop missiles headed to the U.S., was scheduled to launch from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean 16 minutes after a target missile carrying a mock warhead was launched from Kodiak, Alaska, at 12:45 a.m. New York time, the agency said in a statement.
Boeing Chief Executive Harry Stonecipher is depending on development of the U.S. ground-based missile-defense system to boost sales. President George W. Bush wants initial operations of the system to be ready by next year. The system must pass two flight tests within three months before it is deemed reliable, Thomas Christie, the Pentagon's director of operational testing, said on Nov. 2.
``I would call that a pretty gross test failure,'' said Loren Thompson, a defense industry consultant and chief operating officer at Arlington, Virginia-based Lexington Institute. ``It has a long way to go before we can count on the protection that it's supposed to provide.''
Shares of Boeing, the second-biggest U.S. defense contractor, fell 24 cents to $52.40 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have risen 34 percent over the past year.
Legislators still will have patience with the program because of the amount of money the U.S. government has invested in it, Thompson said. Congress approved a $10 billion budget for missile defense in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
Defense Shield
Last year, about 10 percent of Chicago-based Boeing's $27.4 billion in military sales came from the missile-defense shield program. Boeing spokeswoman Kerry Gildea didn't return a call for comment today.
On Monday, Boeing won a $928 million contract to continue work on its part of the defense shield, intended to destroy a long-range missile, such as a nuclear warhead, at high altitude from locations such as North Korea.
Other parts of the shield include systems that attempt to shoot down a missile soon after launch and while it is falling to Earth. Lockheed Martin Corp., the biggest U.S. defense company, and Northrop Grumman Corp. also have missile-defense contracts.
The test is the first in two years in which the Missile Defense Agency attempted to launch the interceptor missile against a target missile. The previous December 2002 test also failed because the warhead didn't separate from its booster rocket. Four previous tests were successful.
Six interceptor missiles have been installed in Fort Greely, Alaska, this year and on Monday the agency installed the first one at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Today's test was intended to evaluate the interceptor missile's flight path and communications system, not necessarily to intercept the missile, the agency has said. The booster rocket of the interceptor is made by Orbital Sciences Corp. and Raytheon Co. makes the warhead.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Darrell Hassler in Chicago at [email protected].
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aCMmqxw2Dnd4&refer=top_world_news
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10 billion dollar budge :O like WTF!
Its quite a blow to Bush since he promised a "working sample" by the end of this year.
By the way how many Missile centers would be required to cover the whole of the United States??
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- A Boeing Co. interceptor missile failed to launch during a test of the U.S. ground-based missile-defense system today because of an ``unknown anomaly,'' the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said.
The interceptor, designed to stop missiles headed to the U.S., was scheduled to launch from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean 16 minutes after a target missile carrying a mock warhead was launched from Kodiak, Alaska, at 12:45 a.m. New York time, the agency said in a statement.
Boeing Chief Executive Harry Stonecipher is depending on development of the U.S. ground-based missile-defense system to boost sales. President George W. Bush wants initial operations of the system to be ready by next year. The system must pass two flight tests within three months before it is deemed reliable, Thomas Christie, the Pentagon's director of operational testing, said on Nov. 2.
``I would call that a pretty gross test failure,'' said Loren Thompson, a defense industry consultant and chief operating officer at Arlington, Virginia-based Lexington Institute. ``It has a long way to go before we can count on the protection that it's supposed to provide.''
Shares of Boeing, the second-biggest U.S. defense contractor, fell 24 cents to $52.40 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have risen 34 percent over the past year.
Legislators still will have patience with the program because of the amount of money the U.S. government has invested in it, Thompson said. Congress approved a $10 billion budget for missile defense in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
Defense Shield
Last year, about 10 percent of Chicago-based Boeing's $27.4 billion in military sales came from the missile-defense shield program. Boeing spokeswoman Kerry Gildea didn't return a call for comment today.
On Monday, Boeing won a $928 million contract to continue work on its part of the defense shield, intended to destroy a long-range missile, such as a nuclear warhead, at high altitude from locations such as North Korea.
Other parts of the shield include systems that attempt to shoot down a missile soon after launch and while it is falling to Earth. Lockheed Martin Corp., the biggest U.S. defense company, and Northrop Grumman Corp. also have missile-defense contracts.
The test is the first in two years in which the Missile Defense Agency attempted to launch the interceptor missile against a target missile. The previous December 2002 test also failed because the warhead didn't separate from its booster rocket. Four previous tests were successful.
Six interceptor missiles have been installed in Fort Greely, Alaska, this year and on Monday the agency installed the first one at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Today's test was intended to evaluate the interceptor missile's flight path and communications system, not necessarily to intercept the missile, the agency has said. The booster rocket of the interceptor is made by Orbital Sciences Corp. and Raytheon Co. makes the warhead.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Darrell Hassler in Chicago at [email protected].
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aCMmqxw2Dnd4&refer=top_world_news
**************************************
10 billion dollar budge :O like WTF!
Its quite a blow to Bush since he promised a "working sample" by the end of this year.
By the way how many Missile centers would be required to cover the whole of the United States??