Raketenabwehrschilde

[Nightwatch]

US Missile Defense System on Target, Generals Say

WASHINGTON: The U.S. missile defense system intercepted a warhead during a test over the Pacific Ocean last week, boosting military officials’ confidence in the program’s ability to neutralize threats from missile-wielding nations like North Korea and Iran.

During a news conference at the Pentagon today, Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry A. “Trey” Obering III, director of the Missile Defense Agency, and U.S. Northern Command Commander Air Force Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr. discussed the successful Sept. 28 interception exercise. In a test designed to replicate a missile attack from North Korea, operators launched a warhead from Kodiak, Alaska. Land- and sea-based radars tracked the missile for 24 minutes before a 60-foot interceptor launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., flew for seven minutes and blasted the missile to bits.

“We think that this builds more and more confidence with respect to (the question), ‘Does the system work?’” Obering said. “The answer is yes.”

[...]

Overall, the $100 billion program, which began in 1983 and has been tailored to offset North Korean and Iranian threats, has hit 30 of 39 missiles launched. The Sept. 28 exercise marks the system’s sixth successful interception in the nine tests conducted since 2001.

Obering said he thinks this most recent success will help counter arguments made by NATO partners that the system is unproven. “I think it helps us in a very real way because, as I have conversations with our European partners and allies and NATO partners in the past, one of the questions I do get asked is, ‘Well, this system is not proven, (and) it doesn’t work, right?’” he said. “And I think this goes a long (way) to answering that question.”

[...]

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/missiles/US_Missile_Defense_System_on_Target_Generals_Say160013610.php">http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish ... 013610.php</a><!-- m -->

Ich hab mich schon gefragt wann die Tests mal weiter gehen.
Wie es scheint kriegen sie den GBI langsam aber sicher in den Griff.