UPDATE: Capability Of Missile Defense Is Even More Modest Than We Thought

Oh no, not again. Guardian Unlimited (02.14.05), via AngryBear:

"A test of the national missile defense system failed Monday when an interceptor missile did not launch from its island base in the Pacific Ocean, the military said. It was the second failure in months for the experimental program.

A statement from the Missile Defense Agency said the cause of the failure was under investigation." Emphasis supplied.

U.S. Missile Defense System Flunks Test

Might not work all that well, but at least it's really expensive. Reuters (12.31.04):

"The Pentagon failed to meet its goal of declaring a missile defense system operational in 2004 and critics said failures in testing the ambitious system show it simply does not work.

The latest test of the multibillion-dollar system ended in failure on Dec. 15 when one of the interceptors intended to destroy an incoming enemy ballistic missile failed to launch on cue from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific.

President Bush said two years ago he wanted the system up and running by September 2004. The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency later said the intention was to make it operational by the end of 2004. Now Missile Defense Agency spokesman Rick Lehner says there is no firm timetable for activating it." Emphasis supplied.

Pentagon Misses Goal for Missile Defense System

The article notes that "(f)our of the system's nine major tests have been failures, and the five successes have been achieved under tightly controlled conditions.

Meanwhile, key components are absent, including a high-resolution, high-power, sea-based radar and two big satellite constellations."

I dunno what a satellite constellation is, but it sounds pretty important.

QOTD: "What we have here is a developmental system that is well along," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a recent briefing. "And at some point soon, it will have a modest capability."

Huzzah!! Take that, you dusky-hued foreign person, you!!

President's Remarks in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania