The US military successfully conducted a missile defense test on Friday night as an interceptor rocket hit a dummy warhead in space over the Pacific Ocean, Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin said.
She said that the military launched the target missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 9:11 p.m., and the interceptor took off 4,800 miles (7,725 km) away from Meck Island in Kwajalein Atoll at 9:32 p.m.. The interceptor collided with the dummy warhead and destroyed it in space at 9^The test was the sixth of a prototype of a ground-based missile defense system. Among the five previous tests since 1999, three were successful, including the most recent one in December. The second and the third test failed. The military is also developing ship-based and other types of anti-missile systems.
Friday's test, which cost more than 100 million dollars, was the most complex of its kind so far. Three inflated balloons were deployed in space to try to fool the interceptor. Only one speeding balloon was used in previous tests.
The interceptor used its own sensors to pick out the warhead, track it and destroy it, the Pentagon said.
Washington has been developing a missile defense system since George W. Bush came to power last year. President Bush announced last year that the United States was withdrawing from the 1972 anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty between Moscow and Washington which bans such tests.
Bush's missile defense plan was widely criticized by the international community. Russia, China and some other countries have expressed their concerns that the program could lead to a renewed arms race in the world. Opponents at home also argued that the missile defense system is too expensive and unrealistic.
Designing, testing and building a system of land- and sea-based missile defenses would cost between 23 billion dollars and 64 billion dollars by 2015, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated earlier this year.
(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2002)
