Internet Scofflaw

Last June I collated the missile defense testing record from MDA press releases. In light of my last post, I thought I would update the record with tests since June. There have been four tests during that time:

• June 25, 2008: THAAD test successful.
• November 19, 2008: Japanese Aegis/SM-3 test unsuccessful.
• November 1, 2008: Aegis/SM-3 dual target test mixed (one target intercepted, one not).
• September 17, 2007: THAAD test aborted (target missile failed).

There have been no intercept tests of the best known missile-defense system, the GBMD (ground-based midcourse defense), during that time. November was a tough month for the Aegis/SM-3 system, making only one of three attempted intercepts. If we set aside the aborted THAAD test, the Aegis/SM-3 is the only system to fail since missile defense was deployed in December 2002.

UPDATE (12/6): Another test of the GBMD system yesterday was a qualified success.  The system intercepted the target, but the test was intended to include countermeasures that failed to deploy, so it wasn’t as difficult as intended.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 29th, 2008 at 12:41 pm and is filed under Military, Technological. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.