Pentagon Test Czar Sees Possible Need for Interceptor Component Redesign

[xchrom]

http://www.nationaljournal.com/global-security-newswire/pentagon-test-czar-sees-possible-need-for-interceptor-component-redesign-20140129

The Pentagon's testing czar on Wednesday said a critical piece of the U.S. missile-defense system may require a redesign following multiple test failures.

The Defense Department's operational test and evaluation office concluded in its fiscal 2013 annual report that repeated misfires of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense, or "GMD," system's Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle "raise questions regarding the robustness of the EKV's design."

The three most recent attempts at intercepting a dummy ballistic missile using the Raytheon-developed EKV component have all been unsuccessful. The last successful test intercept was in 2008.

The Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle is the front-end component of the missile-defense architecture's Ground Based Interceptor and uses kinetic force, rather than a detonating warhead, to destroy incoming missiles. There are two versions of the EKV component -- the CE-1 kill vehicle and a later-generation CE-2 model.



***ok...how much?

[upaloopa]

1. There was never really a successful intercept.

The target missiles had homing devices added and a near miss was considered a success.
The target middles were launched from Vandenberg AFB my nex door neighbor. We would go to Surf to watch the launch many times.