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DATE=1/19/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=MISSILE TEST FAILS (L)
NUMBER=2-258228
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=PENTAGON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT: 
INTRO:  Pentagon officials say a faulty sensor is the 
likely cause of Tuesday's failed test of the U-S anti 
ballistic missile system.  Critics of the system say 
the missed target shows the technology is not ready to 
deploy.  V-O-A's Jim Randle reports, Pentagon 
officials think they can fix the defective sensors, 
though they don't know how long it will take.  
TEXT:  Tuesday, test engineers launched a target 
missile from California, hurling a dummy warhead into 
space, simulating a nuclear attack.
A complex network of sensors on satellites and radars 
on the ground tracked the target missile, feeding 
information to a powerful new computer, designed to 
guide the interceptor rocket -- called a `kill 
vehicle' -- close to the target missile.
About 20 minutes into the test, military officials 
launched the defensive missile from an island in the 
mid-Pacific.  The kill vehicle was supposed to 
maneuver on a collision course, strike the attacking 
missile at 20-thousand kilometers an hour, and shatter 
it into microscopic particles   But something went 
wrong with the infrared sensors in the last six 
seconds, and the blinded interceptor sailed past its 
target.
Officials say the 100-million dollar experiment was 
not a total loss, because it successfully tested new 
radars and a complex computer that guides the effort 
to shoot down missiles.
A third test in April or May is designed to give 
President Clinton the information he will need to make 
a decision to build or shelve the nearly 13-billion 
dollar system. 
Critics of the effort to build missile defenses, 
including Tom Collina of the Union of Concerned 
Scientists, say President Clinton should delay that 
decision.
            /// COLLINA ACT ///
      The technology will not be mature by this 
      summer, when we have the Clinton Administration 
      decision, and certainly deploying a system that 
      we don't know whether it works is not 
      worth the political and financial downsides.
            /// END ACT /// 
Mr. Collina says the system will likely cost much more 
than the Pentagon's 13-billion dollar estimate.  And 
he says the system does not seem likely to do its job 
-- protecting Americans from a handful of missiles 
launched from North Korea or another rogue state.
But Mr. Collina says deploying the system is likely to 
derail arms control efforts with Russia that have 
already gotten rid of thousands of nuclear warheads 
that were once pointed at the United States.  
Supporters of missile defenses say U-S scientists can 
solve the difficult technical problems.  They argue 
whatever the system's price in dollars it is less than 
the cost in lives of a missile attack on a U-S city.  
(Signed)
NEB/JR/TVM/gm
19-Jan-2000 17:55 PM EDT (19-Jan-2000 2255 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.