DATE=7/6/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUNDER
TITLE=MISSILE PREVIEW
NUMBER=5-46622
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=PENTAGON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
/// EDS: Test scheduled for sometime between 10pm edt
Friday and 2 am edt Saturday. ///
INTRO: The U-S Military is preparing a crucial test
of the controversial National Missile Defense (N-M-D)
system Friday. Designers hope to destroy a dummy
warhead streaking through space at thousands of
kilometers per hour - and prove the worth of the
expensive system. Critics say the test is too flawed
to tell the President if the 60-billion dollar N-M-D
is worth building. V-O-A's Jim Randle has this
preview from the Pentagon.
TEXT: It will be the third time the U-S Military has
tried to detect, track and destroy a dummy warhead on
an intercontintental ballistic missile in mid-flight.
Previous attempts hit one target and missed the other.
In this case, they will launch a target missile from
California and launch an interceptor rocket from a
Pacific island 7-thousand kilometers away.
Satellites are supposed to detect the target rocket's
launch by `seeing' its fiery exhaust. Moments later,
high powered radars are supposed to give `battle
management' computers data predicting the impact point
and time.
Once the target's course and speed are calculated, the
interceptor thunders into the sky, seeking its target
160 kilometers above the ocean.
Seconds later, the interceptor and the warhead are
supposed to collide at 24-thousand kilometers per hour
- an impact powerful enough to vaporize both machines,
and create a bright flash in the sky.
Pentagon spokesman Craig Quigley says this test is
more difficult than previous efforts.
/// Quigley act ///
This is a walk before you run process. This is
the way to evolve a system of this complexity,
and we think that it's the right path to take.
/// end act ///
President Clinton will use information from this test
in a few months when he is scheduled to decide to
either build or scrap the system.
Critics say the system is too crude to tell the
difference between a deadly warhead and decoys
designed to fool the instruments. Such fakes can be
made by cluttering the space near the warhead with
balloons of similar size.
Tom Collina of the Union of Concerned Scientists says
even if the interceptor hits the target in Friday's
test, officials will not know enough to make a
sensible decision on the fate of the system.
/// Collina act ///
Particularly not these tests which are, again,
not rigorous enough, not realistic enough. Now
the tests may get more realistic, but we should
wait to see the outcome of those tests and not
be deciding on the system now.
/// end act ///
But Pentagon officials say they must hurry because
North Korea may be able to build a ballistic missile
that could hit the United States by two-thousand and
five.
To meet that threat, engineers will have to start
building the ten-story tall radars and other
facilities on a desolate Alaskan island next June.
/// opt /// Other critics in Moscow, Beijing, and in
some NATO capitals say the missile defense will
violate the 1972 antiballistic missile treaty with
Russia. Top officials in Moscow say they will respond
by scrapping arms control treaties that removed
thousands of nuclear weapons from the arsenals in the
United States and Russia, and ignite a new arms race.
/// end opt ///
Friday's focus is on the National Missile Defense
project, one of several efforts to counter what many
U-S officials say is a growing threat from the growing
number of countries that are developing ballistic
missiles.
The National Missile Defense, if it works, is a large
umbrella designed to protect all 50 U-S States from
attack.
`Theater' missile defense is supposed to be a medium
sized umbrella to protect an area, like U-S bases in
the Persian Gulf or the country of Japan from medium
range missiles. But the theater missile program has
serious technical and manufacturing problems and seems
unlikely to be deployed anytime soon.
U-S Patriot missiles provide a still smaller umbrella,
covering an air field or a small city. Patriots were
used in the Gulf War against crude scud missiles with
limited success. Since then an improved version has
been deployed by U-S and allied forces around the
world, and further improvements are under development.
(Signed)
NEB/PT
06-Jul-2000 17:50 PM EDT (06-Jul-2000 2150 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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