WASHINGTON — The Defense Department conducted a successful test of its missile defense system Friday, taking out a dummy target with an interceptor strike over the Pacific Ocean, an exercise officials hope will build support for the controversial initiative within the incoming Obama administration.
Military officials said the test showed for the first time that various radars and defense systems could be used together.
However, the success of the test was tempered by the failure of the dummy target to deploy planned "countermeasures" -- devices designed to try to throw off the interceptor. As a result, officials could not tell whether the system can distinguish between a warhead and decoys that probably would accompany an actual attack.
Nonetheless, some Pentagon officials hope the test, the last of the Bush administration, will impede attempts by the incoming administration to scale back the missile defense system.
During the campaign, President-elect Barack Obama and his advisors identified missile defense as an area where spending could be trimmed. But some officials in the Pentagon oppose funding cuts that would slow development of a system that they say has begun to prove itself as effective protection.
The target missile was fired from Alaska shortly after noon Pacific time. About 20 minutes later, an interceptor was fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, colliding with the target about 12:30.
While in flight, the target was tracked by radar systems in Alaska, at sea and at Beale Air Force Base in California. Information from five different sensors was integrated, then sent to the interceptor.
"The key to our protection . . . is to have all of these different sensors simultaneously tracking and [have] the system [know] exactly that it's not multiple objects -- it's one object up there," said Army Lt. Gen. Patrick J. O'Reilly, the head of the Missile Defense Agency. "That gives us great confidence. It is the first time we have done it in an actual test."
Critics are likely to raise questions about the test because of the failure of the dummy warhead's countermeasures. Missile defense skeptics have long maintained that the Pentagon has not staged realistic tests, and the lack of decoy warheads that could throw off the interceptor has been a frequent criticism.
