A recent test of the US Missile Defense System failed, according to the Missile Defense Agency, a branch of the US Department of Defense.
This is the statement on the failure, directly from the official MDA website: http://www.mda.mil/
“The Missile Defense Agency conducted a flight test today of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System.”
“A target missile was successfully launched at approximately 3:40 p.m. PST from the U.S. Army’s Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Approximately six minutes later, a Ground-Based Interceptor was successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Both the target missile and Ground-Based Interceptor performed nominally after launch. However, the Sea-Based X-band radar did not perform as expected.”
“Program officials will conduct an extensive investigation to determine the cause of the failure to intercept.”
The US said last week that they are making haste on deploying ships off the Iranian coast due to fears of a growing Iranian threat. Also being sped up is the deployment of anti-missile systems in other Gulf countries.
The test is designed to take out long-range missiles. According to Rick Lehner, a Missile Defense Agency spokesman, the target missile exemplified the type of technology that North Korea or Iran might make use of. “[The target represented] the type of technology that a country such as North Korea or Iran might be able to develop in the future that would threaten the United States,” said Lehner to AFP News.
The test came as a result of a Pentagon report which revealed a warning that Iran and North Korea’s missile program, intermediate and short-range, are a threat to US soldiers and allies.
According to BBC, the missile defense system has been developed over many years and used billions of dollars, and that the Pentagon will be thoroughly embarrassed – although that should be obvious.