Kill Vehicle Misses Again
Dateline: 07/08/00
High over the Pacific Ocean early Saturday morning the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's "kill vehicle" didn't, kill that is, for the second time in two straight $100 million tests. According to a CNN report, the controversial missile interceptor/destroyer passed harmlessly by its target missile when the kill vehicle failed to separate from its booster rocket.
The ultimate plan for the missile defense system calls for two kill vehicle interceptor sites, each equipped with 100 interceptors, at a total cost of $60 billion as estimated by the General Accounting Office, the auditing arm of Congress. This design, according to the Defense Department would protect all 50 states from missiles launched from "rouge" nations like North Korea, Iran and Iraq.
With only one hit out of three at-bats, the future of the missile defense system program is now in question and will be up to President Clinton.
Instant Poll: Should the Missile Defense System Program be continued or not?
The kill vehicle is designed to separate from its carrier rocket as it nears the enemy missile and destroy the incoming missile by simply smashing into it at very high speed. The difficulty of this feat is summed up by defense experts as, "hitting a bullet with a bullet."
Here, from a Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Fact Sheet, are some details on how the kill vehicle is supposed to work.
How fast is the Kill Vehicle going when it hits the hostile reentry vehicle?
The collision between the two occurs at relative (closing) speeds of up to 16,000 miles per hour.
Is there an explosion?
No. There is a collision. It occurs in space. It is very powerful and generates debris, gas and dust. The gas and dust may actually look like they burn like a gas cloud does, but only for an extremely short time. The debris and dust will reenter the atmosphere and burn up like meteors do. Nothing reaches the ground.
What does a hostile reentry vehicle look like?
It will probably look like a long, smooth cone and will probably be made of heat shield material on the outside to allow it to reenter the earth’s atmosphere.
What is inside the hostile reentry vehicle?
The reentry vehicle will carry a bomb of some kind. That bomb could be nuclear, biological or chemical. It could cause mass destruction of people and cities if it reaches its target intact. We want to collide with it in space and prevent it from reaching earth.
What else will fly along with the hostile reentry vehicle?
Probably some decoys of some kind to try to fool the KV into colliding with them instead of the reentry vehicle, and probably some debris from the rocket stages themselves.
How will we know we’ve collided with the reentry vehicle?
We will use a wide variety of sophisticated space-based, ground-based and airborne sensors and instruments to determine the success of the intercept, including advanced radar images and tracking information, high-speed photographs and video, and radio signals from the target. A very advanced Photonic Hit Indicator system on the target provides extremely precise hit data.
Who will make the decision to deploy an NMD system?
The President will make the deployment decision with the information and recommendations provided by the Secretary of Defense. In June 2000, the Defense Department will conduct a deployment readiness review to evaluate: the technical maturity of the NMD technology; the cost of the proposed system, the threat to the U.S. from long-range ballistic missiles and the status of national security agreements with the Russians. If a decision is made to deploy, 20 interceptors could be operational in 2005.
Source: BMDO FACT SHEET JN-00-07 (Download complete document in .pdf format)
Reference Links
Ballistic Missile Defense Organization
The organization developing the missile defense system. Get fact sheets on testing, program elements and organization. From the Department of Defense.Anti-missile system fails test for 2nd time
CNN report of 7/8/.2000Anti-missile test is rigged
Miami Herald - 7/7/2000 - Is the test of the missile defense system rigged to work?Coalition to Protect Americans Now
Group in favor of an effective missile defense for the United States.
Missile test set for tonight
Late Friday night or early Saturday morning the Pentagon will conduct a missile defense test somewhere over the Pacific. How will this affect President Clinton's pending decision on a $60 billion missile defense shield? World News Guide Keith Porter has the story.
President Clinton will soon make one of the most important foreign policy and national security decisions of his term, from Keith Porter, your guide to World News.
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