The New York Times December 14, 2001
A Setback for Missile Shield As Booster Rocket Fails Test
By JAMES DAO
A test of a prototype booster rocket for missile defense failed today when the rocket veered off course seconds after liftoff and had to be destroyed over the Pacific Ocean, the Pentagon said.
The three-stage rocket, assembled by Boeing, lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force base north of Los Angeles at 1:15 p.m. today, Eastern Standard Time, but malfunctioned just 30 seconds after launch and was ordered to self-destruct as it swerved off course, officials said. "The booster fell harmlessly into the Pacific about six miles from Vandenberg," said Bryan G. Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman. He said the cause of the malfunction was not yet known.
The booster is being developed to carry antimissile weapons, known as kill vehicles, that can home in on and demolish long-range missile warheads 140 miles above the earth's surface.
Although Boeing successfully tested one of the prototypes in late August, the interceptor booster program has been plagued by problems and delays. The Pentagon had wanted to begin using the new launch system in tests to shoot down target rockets over the Pacific starting early next year. But it has postponed those plans for more than a year because of the program's problems.
As a result, the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, which oversees most missile defense testing, announced last summer that it was seeking proposals for alternative booster systems.
"It's one of the minor mysteries of missile defense as to what the problem with this thing is," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity .org, a defense policy Web site. "It was originally considered one of the lowest risk parts of the system, and it has just turned out to have one problem after another."
Boeing officials could not be reached for comment tonight. The company, which is looking to its space and military divisions to compensate for falling revenues in its commercial airline division, is also the lead contractor on the overall missile defense program.
The Boeing booster is intended to be assembled largely from commercially available rocket components, including a motor by Alliant Techsystems and second and third stages built by United Technologies.
The plan is for it to have greater acceleration than the modified Minuteman launch vehicles the Pentagon has been using for missile defense tests, enabling it to catch up to fast-moving intercontinental ballistic missiles heading toward the United States.
The failure today came even as Congress was approving a $3 billion increase, to $8.3 billion, for President Bush's missile defense program.
Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company
