Interceptor downs missile in test over Pacific

[jpak]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-09-01T184244Z_01_WBT005892_RTRUKOC_0_US-ARMS-MISSILE-USA.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military shot down a target ballistic missile over the Pacific on Friday in the widest test of its emerging antimissile shield in 18 months, the Defense Department announced.

The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said it had successfully completed an important exercise involving the launch of an improved ground-based interceptor missile designed to protect the United States against a limited long-range ballistic missile attack.

The test results will help improve the performance of a multibillion-dollar shield against the type of long-range ballistic missile that could be used to attack a U.S. city with a weapon of mass destruction, the agency said in a statement.

Officially, the $85 million test was designed to collect data rather than shoot down the target.

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[Ezlivin]

1. I feel so much safer

Now remind me of what I'm supposed to fear today....

[Viking12]

2. That's funny. Last week they said they weren't trying to shoot it down.

Knowing that here was a high probability of failure, they said that hitting the target wasn't at all important in this test. But now that they actually have hit a target, it was their intended purpose all along.

[jpak]

5. I want to see the impact photos before I believe any of this

n/t

[Bandit]

10. As Bush* says, His job is to lower expectations

on that he has been very successful...:shrug:

[Spazito]

3. LOL, bet the giant locater beacon attached to the missile was almost as

big as the missile itself. What a scam.

[LSK]

4. great, but can it shoot down an ipod controlled gatorade bottle???

:shrug:

[Spazito]

6. ROFLMAO! Excellent question!

:rofl:

[uppityperson]

8. only if it is shot out of a padded bra

[Javaman]

7. So not having read this article...

did it say anything about how they had to doctor the "missile" to be identified by the interceptor?

Like they did when they last tried to put this bullshit across to us?

Was it painted bright orange? was it giving off a giant ass heat sig? was it broadcasting a full range of radio signals?

more bullshit.

[jpak]

9. BS alert - read this

http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-09-01T181349Z_01_WBT005892_RTRIDST_0_ARMS-MISSILE-USA-URGENT.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna

<snip>

WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. military shot down a target ballistic missile over the Pacific Friday in the widest test of its emerging antimissile shield in 18 months, a witness to the test told Reuters.

"We've got an intercept," said Riki Ellision, president of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a booster group close to missile-defense contractors and the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency.

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fucking lies

[Junkdrawer]

11. I guess the fog cleared up...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2024013

[The_Casual_Observer]

12. "intercept" doesn't mean "down".

There is something wrong about this report.

[jpak]

13. and more fishyness

UPDATE 2-US interceptor downs missile in test over Pacific

http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-09-01T200136Z_01_N0185975_RTRIDST_0_ARMS-MISSILE-USA-UPDATE-2.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna

<snip>

Philip Coyle, the Pentagon's chief weapons tester under President Bill Clinton from 1994 to 2001 and a leading critic of the Missile Defense Agency, said reviewing such data normally takes weeks.

"So it seems odd that the MDA is declaring success so soon," he said in a telephone interview with Reuters. "It makes you wonder how serious they are about the primary purpose of the test."

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[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Well, it's a good thing that it wasn't foggy or raining.

I'm sure that whoever decides to shoot missles at us will take into account the necessity of sunny weather and prior notification that they're going to do so.