US Delays Missile Shield Tests Because Of Bad Weather

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The first flight test in nearly two years of a planned U.S. missile-defense shield has been scrapped two days in a row this week because of bad weather, the Pentagon said on Friday.

Strong rain squalls over the Kwajalein atoll launch site in the central Pacific caused the latest postponement, Richard Lehner, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, said shortly after the decision to scrap the test. A new attempt might be made later in the day, he said.

The Pentagon had not previously publicized the test.

An exercise deemed successful may set the stage for President Bush to declare the system on alert to shoot down a warhead that could be fired by a potential foe like North Korea.

Bush's goal, announced in 2002, was to have a rudimentary ground-based shield in operation by the end of this month. But the timetable may slip, the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer, Michael Wynne, suggested earlier this week.
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The test would be the first since a December 2002 failure in which the "kill vehicle" -- a Raytheon Co. -built 120-pound package of sensors, chips and thrusters -- failed to separate from its booster rocket. Of eight intercepts attempted so far, five hit their targets, but under highly scripted conditions.

Boeing Co. is the main contractor for the initial elements of the system. Northrop Grumman Corp. provides the command and control; Lockheed Martin Corp., a booster rocket.

The coming test features the first flight of the kill vehicle on a new, faster-flying, booster built by Orbital Sciences Corp. . It was to be launched from Kwajalein in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

The target missile was to be fired in Kodiak, Alaska, to vary engagement angles tested in previous launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The first attempt to conduct the test this week was scrubbed by clouds over Kodiak.

The Pentagon's official goal for the test is a "flyby" to gather data on the new hardware linkups as well as on the nerve center, rather than to shoot down the target.

This is one of the rare times that the media reports on the Missile Defense Shield that the US is trying to build on the west coast. I believe I have a post which describes the effects of this shield, and why we want it, but can't seem to find it anywhere. So, I'll rewrite a bit.
This shield will allow the US to use very aggressive diplomacy with North Korea. Right now, Kim Jung Ill knows that he is safe from the US, because the US will not risk a nuclear missile strike to get rid of one little (and he is short. Actually, Kim Jung is very sensitive about his height; he grew that stupid afro to look taller) dictator, no matter how insane that dictator is. Though the US may not be able to destroy North Korea's nukes, we can prevent them from being effective. On the US, that is. Our allies are screwed.
Our allies are screwed because, once Kim Jung Ill knows that he can't hit the US, he will nuke some of America's allies, namely Japan and South Korea (Taiwan is a slight possibility as well). Poor Japan, that would be their third nuclear attack. How much would it suck to be the only nation on Earth to get nuked, not after only one nuke, but after three?
Anyway, our allies are ticked that only the US would be protected by the shield (we went out of our way to keep Canada vulnerable. No, I'm only joking, but Canada will probably be vulnerable because it would cost a ton to extend the shield up north, and the US doesn't want to pay more to defend Canada). They fear, quite reasonably and justifiably, that the US may get cocky and cause them to be nuked. It's safer to have a crazy, but pacified, Kim Jung Ill than it is to have a crazy, angry Kim Jung Ill who will shoot his nukes everywhere except the US.

That seems like a good summary of the political background for the Missile Defense issue. I may need to update later, but I'm too lazy to write several more pages tonight.