U. S. intercepts projectile in test of ICBM defenses
The U. S. military on Tuesday destroyed a mock intercontinental ballistic missile thousands of miles over the Pacific for the first time, a step forward for a missile- defense program that has taken on new significance in light of North Korean threats.
Vice Adm. Jim Syring, director of the Pentagon agency in charge of developing the missile- defense system, called the test result “an incredible accomplishment” and a critical milestone for a program hampered by setbacks over the years.
“This system is vitally important to the defense of our homeland, and this test demonstrates that we have a capable, credible deterrent against a very real threat,” Syring said in a written statement announcing the test result.
Despite the success, the $ 244 million test didn’t confirm that under wartime conditions the U. S. could intercept an intercontinental-range missile fired by North Korea. Pyongyang is known to be moving closer to the capability of putting a nuclear warhead on such a missile and could develop decoys sophisticated enough to trick an interceptor into missing the real warhead.
Syring’s Missile Defense Agency sounded a note of caution.
“Initial indications are that the test met its primary objective, but program officials will continue to evaluate system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during the test,” his statement said.
The Ground- based Midcourse Defense system used a 5- foot “kill vehicle” released from a larger ground- based
interceptor missile to obliterate the mock missile, defense officials said. The mock threat was launched from the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site in the Marshall Islands and met by an interceptor launched from a silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The kill vehicle zeroed in on the target’s mock warhead outside Earth’s atmosphere and obliterated it by sheer force of impact, the Pentagon said. The kill vehicle carries no explosives, either in testing or in actual combat.
The target was a custommade missile meant to simulate an intercontinental ballistic missile, meaning it flew faster than missiles used in previous intercept tests, according to Christopher Johnson, the Missile Defense Agency’s spokesman. It was not a mock- up of an actual North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile, and details of its exact capabilities weren’t made public.
The Pentagon likens the defensive tactic to hitting a bullet with a bullet. With congressional support, the Pentagon is increasing by the end of this year the number of deployed interceptors, based in California and Alaska, to 44 from the current total of 36.
The test was once scheduled for last year but was pushed back as the Missile Defense Agency made engineering changes to the interceptor, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office released Tuesday. The problems prompted the Pentagon’s top weapons tester, the directorate of operational test and evaluation, to assess last year that the system had demonstrated only limited ability to defend the country in part because of its low reliability.
Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said before the test Tuesday morning that its timing was not tied directly to recent tensions with North Korea, which include Pyongyang continuing to carry out nuclear and ballistic- missile tests and threatening to attack both the continental United States and U. S. bases abroad.
But “in a more broad sense,” Davis said, “North Korea is obviously one of the reasons why we have this capability.”
Davis played down the need for a successful test.
“We improve and learn from each test, regardless of the outcome,” he said. “That’s the reasons we conduct them.”
“This is part of a continuous learning curve,” Davis said. The Pentagon is still incorporating the engineering upgrades to its missile interceptor, which has yet to be fully tested in realistic conditions.
The test was led by the Missile Defense Agency and included the Air Force’s 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg and the U. S. Northern Command, which oversees the defense of the United States.
The Pentagon declared the missile- defense system ready for combat in 2004, but its testing history has been mixed. Four of nine missileintercept test attempts before Tuesday had succeeded, including the previous one in June 2014.
In April, Navy Adm. Harry Harris, the chief of Pacific Command, told the House Armed Services Committee that North Korea is “clearly in a position to threaten Hawaii today” with a ballistic- missile attack, and that the Pentagon should consider adding new ballistic- missile interceptors and defensive radar there.
“I believe that our ballisticmissile architecture is sufficient to protect Hawaii today, but it can be overwhelmed,” Harris said at the time. If the United States faced a wave of incoming ballistic missiles, he added, “someone would have to make a decision on which one to take out or not.”
Philip Coyle, a former head of the Pentagon’s test and evaluation office and a senior fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non- Proliferation, said Tuesday’s outcome was a significant success for a test that was three years in preparation, but he noted that it was only the second success in the five intercept attempts carried out since 2010.
“In several ways, this test was a $ 244 million baby step, a baby step that took three years,” Coyle said.
Laura Grego, senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, which has criticized the missile- defense program, called the interceptor an “advanced prototype,” meaning it is not fully matured technologically even if it has been deployed and theoretically available for combat for more than a decade. A successful test Tuesday, she said, could demonstrate the Pentagon is on the right track with its latest technical fixes.
“Overall,” she wrote in an analysis before the test, the military “is not even close to demonstrating that the system works in a real- world setting.”
The interceptors are, in essence, the last line of U. S. defense against an attack by an intercontinental- range missile.
The Pentagon has other elements of missile defense that have proved to be more reliable, although they are designed to work against mediumrange or shorter- range ballistic missiles. These include the Patriot missile, which numerous countries have purchased from the U. S., and the Terminal High- Altitude Area Defense system, which the U. S. deployed this year to South Korea to defend against medium- range missiles from North Korea. North Korea says its nuclear and missile programs are a defense against U. S. military threats. North Korea’s accelerating missile development has complicated Pentagon calculations, most recently by incorporating solid- fuel technology into its rockets. Liquid fuel is less stable and rockets using it have to be fueled in the field, a process that takes longer and can be detected by satellites.
Underscoring its uninterrupted efforts, North Korea on Monday fired a shortrange ballistic missile that landed in Japan’s maritime economic zone.
On Tuesday, North Korea’s state- controlled news agency said the test involved a new rocket with a precision guidance system that landed within 23 feet of its target.
Leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the launch of the missile from the country’s east coast. Preparations before the firing were more automated than for the previous “Hwasong,” or Scud, rockets, the Korean Central News Agency said, adding that this “markedly” reduced the launch time.
The accuracy claims, if true, would represent a potentially significant advancement in North Korea’s missile program. The news agency said Kim called for the continued development of more powerful strategic weapons, though the report didn’t mention whether the missile could carry nuclear warheads.
The test — the ninth this year — came two days after the Group of Seven nations pledged to “strengthen measures” aimed at prompting North Korea to cease nuclear and ballistic- missile trials. The news agency said North Korea won’t be swayed by pressure from the G- 7.
“The U. S. and its followers are seriously mistaken if they think they can deprive the DPRK of its nuclear deterrence, the nation’s life and dignity, through sanctions and pressure,” it said, using the initials of the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“In several ways, this test was a $ 244 million baby step, a baby step that took three years.” — Philip Coyle, a former head of the Pentagon’s test and evaluation office