Missile intercepted in successful test

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JULY 15. In what is seen as a major boost to the President, Mr. George W. Bush's plan for a National Missile Defence (NMD) system, the Pentagon announced that the first of a ``hit-to- kill'' technology of the Republican administration had its success over the Pacific.

The Defence Department here confirmed that an interceptor soared into space from an atoll in the Pacific and destroyed its target 224 km above the surface of the Earth. ``The early indication we have is that everything worked'', said Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish of the Air Force and Director of the Pentagon's missile defence programmes.

The Bush administration had been watching Saturday's key test with great interest even while making the point that its accelerated testing programme of a National Missile Defence will go on regardless. The technological aspects of the successful test aside, politically the administration gets a boost, for the Congressional Democrats were not only sceptical of the planned tests but also making the point that it would harm relations with Russia and China and lead to a new arms race.

Of the three previous tests in 1999 and 2000, only one succeeded; and the failure of the last one a year ago prompted the then President, Mr. Bill Clinton, to delay a final decision on the missile defence network. On July 8 last year, the interceptor failed to meet its target after it failed to separate from its rocket booster.

Mr. Clinton left the decision to the next administration. And one of the major foreign policy items on the Bush agenda was pursuing the missile defence system that would take care of not only the 50 States of America but also allies and friends overseas.

On Saturday, the Pentagon was following with bated breadth the outcome of the test over the Pacific.

The interceptor missile was launched from Kwajalein Atoll some 21 minutes after its target, a modified Minuteman Two intercontinental range missile with a mock warhead was dispatched from a launchpad some 8,000 km away at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The collision resulted in an enormous while flash that was monitored both in the Pentagon and in the Mission Control room in Kwajalein Atoll.

The next scheduled test is in October and indications are that the Pentagon may be adding some complexities deliberately such as more decoys with a view to fooling the missile interceptor.

The Bush administration's first test on Saturday is only one in a series that officials say will hopefully produce a broad defence against long range missiles by the year 2004.

The Bush administration is asking Congress some $ 8.3 billions for research on the missile defence and testing for the year 2002.

This is a $ 3-billion increase in allocation for this year. Saturday's test is estimated to have cost $ 100 millions.

The Pentagon has made it known that acceleration of the programme also would mean additional tests - between four and six over the next 18 months.

The accelerated programme has come under strong criticism at home and abroad.

Moscow angry

PTI reports:

Russia on Sunday strongly reacted to the U.S. test launch of the missile defence system saying it could jeopardise all previous agreements on nuclear disarmament.

This test is ``yet another step towards emergence of a threat to the global arms control and non-proliferation architecture based on international treaties,'' the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr. Alexander Yakovenko, said.

``The Russian side confirms its position on the utmost need to preserve and strengthen the Anti-Ballistic Missile agreement, and is prepared to discuss all the arising problems in accordance with its role (as a signatory of) this cornerstone treaty,'' he said in a statement.

A highly placed Russian Foreign Ministry source said Russia has ``full capability to annihilate the hundreds of billion dollars worth U.S. NMD at a fraction of the cost, while it poses a lethal threat to `modest' Chinese nuclear potential. This would force Beijing to take counter-measures''.

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