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US to Conduct Fourth NMD system Test in May or June
The United States will conduct the fourth test of a planned National Missile Defense (NMD) System in May or June, Defense Department officials said Tuesday.
Before that, the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization may have a test of a new booster of NMD as early as next month, the officials said.
Up to now, the Pentagon has been using an older booster as a stand-in for the one being developed by Alliant Techsystems and Orbus.
In last July's intercept attempt, the booster failed to send the required electronic signal to make the kill vehicle separate from the booster. So the kill vehicle's ability to perform the crucial final tasks -- finding its target and maneuvering into its path -- could not be tested.
In a test tentatively set for March or April, the prototype booster is to be launched westward from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, into the Pacific Ocean. It will not attempt to intercept a missile.
Another such test is planned for summer, and by early next year the Pentagon hopes to launch the new booster from the Army's Kwajalein missile range in the central Pacific eastward toward the US West Coast.
Two of three NMD tests have failed to prove the system would work, most recently on July 8 last year when an attempt to intercept and destroy a dummy warhead in space failed because the weapon did not separate from the second stage of its liftoff rocket.
Arms control experts said that the US NMD, opposed by the international community, will not only spark a new arms race, but also threaten world peace and security, and stimulate nuclear proliferation.
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