Another
failed test.
An attempt to launch an interceptor missile as part of the U.S. missile defence shield failed early Wednesday in the first test of the system in nearly two years.
The Missile Defense Agency said the ground-based interceptor automatically shutdown "due to an unknown anomaly" shortly before it was to be launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean [...]
The missile defence shield was meant to be in operation by the end of 2004.
In earlier tests, missile interceptors had a record of five-for-eight in hitting target missiles.
Wednesday's test had been put of several times because of bad weather, and a malfunction of a recovery vessel not directly related to the equipment being tested, The Associated Press reported.
Note, that five out of eight record was achieved only because the target missile did not have 1) decoys (which are employed by intercontinental ballistic missiles, and 2) the targets had a
homing beacon on them.
So here's the deal -- the missile defense system works sometimes, so long as the target has a big radar signal the interceptor can track, and as long as we have perfect weather in Alaska.