Pentagon delays National Missile Defense test

May 18, 2000
Web posted at: 11:40 PM EDT (0340 GMT)

From CNN Military Affiairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Pentagon officials say the next test of the National Missile Defense Program will be delayed.

The next test had been scheduled for June 26 but will be delayed almost two weeks until July 7.

Pentagon officials say the reason for the delay is a problem with a "telemetry transmitter" on the "kill vehicle." The telemetry transmitter relays information to ground controllers on the location of the "kill vehicles" while it is in flight. Pentagon officials say the telemetry transmitter was turning itself on for unexplained reasons.

The entire "kill vehicle" was sent back to its manufacturer, Raytheon, in Tuscon, Arizona, where the wiring harness of the telemetry transmitter was to be replaced.

The entire "kill vehicle" will then be sent back to the Kwajalein atoll, in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean where it is based. The "kill vehicle" is launched from the atoll and tries to shoot down a missile fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Pentagon officials say this delay will not affect their timetable to make a recommendation to President Clinton in the late summer or early fall on whether to deploy a National Missile Defense.

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