Friday, September 01, 2006

Hit to Kill [John J. Miller]
Talk about burying the lede: A missile-defense test today successfully intercepted its target. Here's a press release from Boeing, with the best news at the bottom.

{from the bottom}

Although not a primary objective of the test, the kill vehicle intercepted the warhead and destroyed it. This was the first intercept with an operationally configured interceptor.

The test was a small step forward, but the system is still far from being able to protect Americans from long-range missile attacks, said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

"The whole point is for us not to worry about the North Korean missiles," said Pike. "They are not close to that yet. Whether it will ever happen is subject to debate."

The launch was postponed from Thursday after fog socked in Kodiak Island. There was also fog over Vandenberg Friday morning but it burned off.