Missile defense system won't hold tests soon

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-miss11.html

WASHINGTON -- Flight tests of the nation's missile defense system will not resume until this fall at the earliest as the military revamps the program after two failures in the past seven months, a military official says.

The military may conduct two tests by year's end, with the earliest possibly this fall, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because no schedule has been announced.

It is uncertain whether the military will have a target missile ready for launch, however, and the first test may not involve an attempt to hit a target.

The delay further protracts Pentagon efforts to validate a multibillion-dollar program that supporters say will help protect the nation from intercontinental ballistic missiles. Critics say that claim remains unproven.

[mbperrin]

1. In other news, buttloads of money will continue to be spent

on the "missile defense system" also known as the "contributor payback system".

[gratuitous]

2. Another triumph for missile defense!

Contractors to receive more shipments of money!

[GoBlue]

3. Now if the Dept. of Education...

was involved and the failures were school children, they'd cut their funding. Go figure.

[WhiteTara]

4. what a crock

this thing will never work and it is a boondoggle from the get go. I wonder if the public will ever take notice that they are being screwed every day in every way.

[mom cat]

5. Don't celebrate too soon. It is just on hold: Read this:

http://atimes.com/atimes/Japan/GG09Dh04.html

Jul 9, 2005



Dangerous race in space
By Bruce K Gagnon

(Republished with permission from Japan Focus)

Japan is embarking on a historic and potentially dangerous journey into space, urged on by the US, which seeks a more heavily armed and militarily active partner in the Asia-Pacific.

Space technology is being developed for two primary reasons. One is to give nations the ability to better coordinate warfare on Earth. The second is that many nations and corporations view space as the "new world". Gold on asteroids, water and helium-3 on the moon, magnesium, cobalt and uranium believed to be on Mars. Corporations intend to venture to these planetary bodies and secure massive profits in the years ahead. But first, new space technologies have to be created that make it possible, and cost effective, to "mine the skies". <1>

If citizens can be convinced that their nation must use space technologies to "protect" them from enemies real or imagined, then this investment in space technology can also be used to create the infrastructure that will allow these same aerospace industries to mine the heavens. Thus space technology becomes "dual use". With the development for military use also comes development for corporate use. The question is, who benefits? Who pays and who reaps the profits?

Japan is working on both military and civilian space technologies, developing so-called "missile defense" systems, new generations of military spy satellites, and planning for manned stations on the moon. All of these programs will come at a tremendous cost to Japanese taxpayers and will set the course for a more aggressive foreign policy in the coming years.

More.....


:grr: there is a lot of money and power at stake. This is not going to go away without a big, sustained fight to get the US to agree not to militarize space and to not put nukes there.