Philip E. Coyle, a senior science fellow at the Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation who formerly headed the Pentagon’s office of operational test and evaluation, said that the test was barely realistic and voiced doubts about the overall success of the GMD program.
“Having this success was very important,” Coyle said in a statement. “It marks two successes in a row, which is significant, but only two hits out of the last five attempts; that is, only a 40 per cent success rate since early 2010.”
“In several ways, this test was a $244-million-dollar baby step,” he added.
