The Pentagon has again delayed a flight test of a ground-based missile defence, [war], system, this time until late November, to replace a malfunctioning flight computer, a spokesman for the controversial program has said.
It is the latest in a series of delays that has halted flight testing of the system, known as 'son of Star Wars' also known as that 'Son of a Bitch', since December 2002 and pushed the next test beyond the November 2 US presidential election.
The military still expects to move ahead with deployment of a rudimentary missile defence, [war], system in Alaska by the end of the year, Missile Defence, [war] Agency spokesman Rick Lehner said. "There is no impact because this test isn't tied to beginning operations," said Lehner.
Air Force militant General Henry Obering, the MDA's director, decided to postpone the flight test on Friday because technicians had been unable to determine the root cause of an anomaly in a flight computer used to send back telemetry data during a test, he said.
Replacing the equipment involves sending the missile interceptor, which has been at a test site in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific for months, back to the United States, according to Lehner. Obering decided that since "there is no rush to do the test, it is best to take our time with this".
Flight tests, which involve firing the interceptor missile from Kwajalein island in the Marshall Islands at a target missile launched from California, each cost an estimated $US100 million. The program has a $US10 billion budget this year.
[All the while children are starving hungry throughout the world.]
Critics, however, have charged that the Pentagon is fielding the system without adequate testing.
The MDA has so far deployed two interceptor missiles at Fort Greely, Alaska and plans to deploy three more by the end of the year, allowing it to declare "initial operating capability".
Plans call for having up to 20 interceptor missiles at Fort Greely and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California by the end of 2005.
Since the malfunctioning equipment is test equipment, no changes have to made to the already deployed interceptor missiles, Lehner said.
Australia signed up to Washington's controversial "Son of a bitch" last year.
By Just Us 15 September 04
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