Disarmament Diplomacy

Issue No. 59, July - August 2001

Documents & Sources

Missile Interceptor Test, July 14

Defense Department Statement
Comment and Reaction

Note: the interceptor test, conducted at a cost of $100 million, was reportedly the first of a series of 20 similar trials scheduled for the next five years. The next test is expected to take place in October, 2001. The last such test, on July 8, 2000, failed to result in an intercept.

Defense Department Statement

'Missile Intercept Test Successful,' Department of Defense Press Release, July 15, 2001.

"The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) announced today it has successfully completed a test involving a planned intercept of an intercontinental ballistic missile target. This test took place over the central Pacific Ocean. A modified Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) target vehicle was launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., at 10:40 p.m. EDT, (July 14) and a prototype interceptor was launched approximately 20 minutes later and 4,800 miles away from the Ronald Reagan Missile Site Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The intercept took place approximately 10 minutes after the interceptor was launched, at an altitude in excess of 140 miles above the earth, and during the midcourse phase of the target warhead's flight.

The test successfully demonstrated for a second time exoatmospheric kill vehicle (EKV) flight performance and 'hit to kill' technology to intercept and destroy a long-range ballistic missile target. In addition to the EKV locating, tracking, and intercepting the target resulting in its destruction using only the body-to-body impact, this test also demonstrated the ability of system elements to work together as an integrated system. The test involved the successful integrated operation of space and ground-based sensors and radars, as well as the Battle Management, Command Control and Communications (BMC3) function to detect the launch of the target missile, cue an early warning radar to provide more detailed target location data; and integration of a prototype X-Band radar (based at Kwajalein) to provide precise target data to the EKV, which received the target updates from the In-Flight Interceptor Communications Systems (IFICS) at Kwajalein.

The EKV separated from its rocket booster more than 1,400 miles from the target warhead. After separation, it used its on-board infrared and visual sensors, augmented with the X-Band radar data provided by BMC3 via the In-flight Interceptor Communications System, to locate and track the target. Sensors aboard the EKV also successfully selected the target instead of a large balloon, which functioned as a decoy. Only system generated data was used for the intercept after the EKV separated from its booster rocket.

Tonight's test is part of a robust and on-going testing program that is a layered approach to defense, using different missile architectures to deter the growing threat of ballistic missiles and other weapons of mass destruction. This is an aggressive research and development program that will lead to the defense of the American homeland as soon as possible against the very real threats of the 21^st century.

Over the next several weeks, government and industry program officials will conduct an extensive analysis of the data received during the flight test to determine whether anomalies or malfunctions occurred during the test, evaluate system performance and determine whether or not all flight test objectives were met. Since the system is in the developmental phase of design and testing, performance of individual elements and the overall system integration was as important as the actual intercept."

Comment and Reaction

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, videotaped message to a conference on missile defence at the Army Space and Missile Defense Command headquarters in Huntsville, Alabama, July 16: "These tests are designed to demonstrate that ballistic missile defence is no longer a problem of invention, but rather a challenge of engineering. Future generations will look back on this time and see that we rose to this challenge. ... Missile defence will, in the years ahead, become part of a new and comprehensive framework for peace and security that reflects the real threats of the 21^st century. Make no mistake about our commitment to this component of our country's deterrent strategy." (Rumsfeld - more missile tests to come, Associated Press, July 16.)

Secretary Rumsfeld, testimony to the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, July 16: "It is a lot of taxpayer money. On the other hand, the Defense Department is currently receiving something less than 2% of the gross national product of the United States, and the missile defence budget is in total less than 2.5% of the defense budget." (Rumsfeld - more missile tests to come, Associated Press, July 16.)

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee, July 17: "This successful test is another step forward on the long road to developing and deploying effective defenses to protect the American people from limited ballistic missile attacks. But it is an important step. ... To build on the success of this test, we will need successive tests that push the envelope even further, that are even more operationally realistic, and to begin testing the many promising technologies which were not pursued in the past, but which have enormous potential to enhance our security. This inevitably means that our testing and development program will eventually encounter the constraints imposed by the ABM Treaty. We are seeking to build defenses to defend the American people. The ABM Treaty's very purpose is to prohibit us from developing such defenses. If we are to build on this weekend's accomplishments, we must move beyond the ABM Treaty. We are working to do so on two parallel tracks: First, with a robust research, development and testing program; and second, through discussions with Russia on a new security framework that reflects the fact that the Cold War is over and that the US and Russia are not enemies. To succeed we need your help in both areas: First, we need Congress's support to fully fund the President's budget request for further development and testing of missile defense. The ability to defend the American people from ballistic missile attack is clearly within our grasp. But we cannot do so unless the President has Congress' support to expand and accelerate the testing and development program. This weekend's test shows the potential for success is there. ... Second, we need Congress' support for President Bush's efforts to achieve an understanding with Russia on ballistic missile defense. The President is working to build a new security relationship between the US and Russia whose foundation does not rest on the prospect of the mutual annihilation of our respective populations. ... Congress can have a significant impact on the outcome of those discussions. If Congress shows the same resolve as the President to proceed seriously with development and testing of defenses to protect our people, our friends and allies, and our forces around the world, it will significantly enhance the prospects for a cooperative outcome. Conversely, Congress should not give Russia the mistaken impression that they can somehow exercise a veto over our development of missile defenses. ... The Department's ABM Compliance Review Group has been directed to identify ABM Treaty issues within 10 working days of receiving the plans for new development or treaty events. That process is already underway. The Secretary and I will be informed of whether the planned test bed, use of Aegis systems in future Integrated Flight Tests, or concurrent operation of ABM and air defense radars in next February's tests are significant treaty problems... This process will permit us to take them into account as early as possible as we pursue our negotiations with Russia on a new strategic framework. We will keep Congress informed as the process unfolds." (Text - Wolfowitz Urges Support of Congress for Missile Defense, US State Department (Washington File), July 17.)

State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher, July 16: 12.0pt'>"We want to do this with the Russians who are parties to the ABM Treaty, and doing it in cooperation with our friends and allies. The focus is to develop an effective defence against a limited number of missiles, and we'll keep talking to the Russians." (Rumsfeld - 20 missile intercept tests over 5 years, Reuters, July 16.)

Joseph Biden, Democratic Chair of the Senate Foreign Relation Committee, July 15: "I congratulate the military on a successful test, but it's not a real-world test yet... [this test] doesn't in any way simulate a genuine kind of threat that we would face... We have a long way to go, and we should continue to pursue it. ... Now...we don't know what his [President Bush's] programme is yet... I just don't know what they're talking about, to be blunt about it. It has to be technologically feasible, and it has to be something that brings down, doesn't increase, the number of...offensive weapons around the world." (US upbeat about missile test, Russia blasts it, Reuters, July 15; Senator calls missile shield 'first step', Reuters, July 15; Missile test inspires praise and caution, Chicago Tribune, July 16.)

Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman, July 15: "I hope we can convince the Russians [of] what is the truth, which is that we are developing a national missile defence to protect our people, our kids, our grandkids, not against Russian attack but against attack from rogue nations. They're as much potential targets of those kinds of attacks as we are." (Missile defense still faces challenges, Associated Press, July 16.)

Republican Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, July 15: 12.0pt'>"They hit a bullet with a bullet, and it does work. We can develop that capability. We should put this right at the top of the agenda, and not allow it to be pushed aside by Democrats who really don't want to put the money into defence that's needed for the future security of our children." (US upbeat about missile test, Russia blasts it, Reuters, July 15.)

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexander Yakovenko, July 15: "A logical question again arises: why take matters to the point of placing under threat the entire internationally-agreed structure of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation - including its core, the 1972 ABM Treaty? Russia stands by its position that it is vital to maintain and strengthen the ABM Treaty and is prepared to discuss all problems in full accordance with its obligations on this cornerstone treaty. ... [We are] open to the earliest start of the dialogue with the United States of America on the issues of the START and ABM treaties and other questions of Russian-American strategic cooperation on the basis of understandings reached by Vladimir Putin and George Bush in Llubljana [in June]." (Russia says US missile test threatens ABM Treaty, Reuters, July 15; Russia - US test threatens treaties, Associated Press, July 15.)