Anti-Missile System Scores Test Hit

摘要

The Pentagon's strategic ballistic missile defense inter-cepted a test target Sept. 1 for the first time since President George W. Bush ordered the rudimentary system deployed nearly four years ago. The success comes on the cusp of a U.S. decision to extend the system to Europe, although nongovernmental missile defense proponents vigorously advocate a different destination: space. Just hours after the test, Lieutenant General Henry Obering, director of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency (MDA), declared the experiment a "total success" and a "huge step" for advancing missile defenses. He also said the outcome gave him confidence that the system had a "good chance" of destroying a missile in a real attack. Nonetheless, the flight test fell short of resembling a realistic scenario, and in one respect, it was less difficult than past tests.