The second flight test failure of the controversial National Missile Defence (NMD) system may prompt the White House to delay its decision on the construction of a missile shield for the USA.
The $100 million test was supposed to be the last by Lockheed Martin and the US Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) before US President Bill Clinton decides in November whether to go forward with the $36 billion anti-ballistic weapon system. The miss on 8 July could push the decision into next year, when Clinton's successor would have to wrestle with the issue.
The USA plans to activate the 100-strong missile shield by 2005, by when so-called "rogue nations" could have the limited ability to hit the USA with long-range missiles.
The prototype interceptor took off as scheduled from Kwajalein Atoll, 21min after the target missile was launched from Vandenberg AFB, California. But the Raytheon exoatmospheric kill vehicle (EKV) failed to separate from the booster rocket and the interceptor passed by the target.
The blame has been placed on the Lockheed Martin-made booster. It should have released the kill vehicle from atop its second stage 2min 30s into the flight, but it failed to send the signal to release the "hit-to-kill" vehicle, and the rocket began a slow tumble after it made a flight manoeuvre designed to keep the rocket on track. A thorough review of test data is under way to pinpoint the problem.
The failed intercept followed a previous mishap on 18 January, when the second NMD test failed because of a leak of nitrogen used to cool two EKV infrared sensors. The incident delayed the latest flight test by about two months.
Source: Flight International
