U.S. should consider re-design of missile defense system: report
January 29. 2014
By Andrea Shalal-Esa
(Reuters) – The U.S. Missile Defense Agency should consider redesigning a key part of its ground-based missile defense system after a series of test failures in recent years, the Pentagon’s chief arms tester said in a new report due to be released Wednesday.
“The flight test failures that have occurred during the past three years raise questions regarding the robustness of the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV),” said the report, referring to the Raytheon Co-built part of the rocket used to hit enemy missiles and destroy them on impact.
Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation (DOT&E), said the agency should redo the intercept test that failed last July and consider whether to redesign the “kill vehicle” and shore it up against failure.
Boeing Co manages the Pentagon’s program to deal with long-range missile threats, while Raytheon and Orbital Sciences Corp build the interceptors and rockets used by the system.
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