It was the third consecutive failure of the US interceptor missile defense system in recent years.
The Interceptor took off from Vandenberg Air Base in California on Friday, only to miss its target and destroy schools of fish in the Pacific Ocean.
Boeing’s last ABM lemon was in 2010, which also missed its target 4,000 miles away in Kwajalein Atoll. The explanation as to why it failed was interesting. US officials’ answer was that it was, “unclear why it failed”.
This latest failure is of course great news for the share holders of US military defense contractors – in this case Boeing Co., who will no doubt, be asking for more money from the US taxpayer in order to ‘better develop the technology’ and supply even more replacement. As we can see by the humble price tag of each unit – $214 million, there’s plenty of good business still to be had. It’s no wonder why the Pentagon can never be audited, and why US defense contractors continue rake in billions each year, while most other businesses are downsizing or closing their US operations altogether.
Protecting America from North Korea
American have been told that this new multi-billion dollar anti-ballistic missile (ABM) program is needed in order to protect the West Coast of the US from an attack by North Korea.
The important point in all this – which has gone over the heads of politicians in Washington DC, as well as most dedicated American media spectators, is that if the US cannot manufacture an accurate long range missile defense system, then what makes Americans believe that Kim Jung-un and his esteemed North Korean brain trust can pull together an accurate long range system to attack the United States?
GOOD ENOUGH FOR WASHINGTON: Dear Leader pretending to view a missile test in North Korea.
This might lead to ask, is the North Korean threat being hyped by the US media and military industrial complex (who own the US media)?
We looked into Kim Jung-un military prowess a few months ago at the height of the fear mongering being pumped out of Washington DC and its media partners. Despite all the hype coming from the White House the US media, we discovered was that North Korea has no advanced intercontinental missile offensive system – much less a functioning nuclear warhead capability. Their delivery systems are suspect, and their nuclear capability is anyone’s guess. On top of all that, North Korea is struggling to put food on the table for its troops and crack-team of scientists.
It turns out that beyond all the flamboyant rhetoric from North Korea, a former senior Obama administration official admitted there is no evidence of any such advancement, saying, “We’re worried about it, but we haven’t seen it”.
So who still thinks that North Korea can “take out” anything on America’s west coast?
Getting the picture yet?
RT explains this latest US military debacle…
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US ABM test failure mars $1bn N. Korea defense plan
.RT
A $214-million test launch of the only US defense against long-range ballistic missile attacks failed to hit its target over the Pacific Ocean, according to the Missile Defense Agency. Interceptor tests have failed eight times since 2008.
In Friday’s test, a ground-based interceptor missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and was expected to hit its target – a missile launched 4,000 miles away from the Kwajalein Atoll.
It’s the third consecutive failure involving the interceptor system managed by Boeing Co.
The military has tested the so-called ground-based midcourse defense system sixteen times. It has succeeded eight times, with the last intercept in December 2008.
The recent failure comes several months after the Pentagon announced plans to spend $1 billion to add 14 new interceptors along the West Coast in response to threats from North Korea.
The US currently has 26 interceptors deployed at Fort Greely in Alaska and four at Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Santa Barbara, in California. Earlier this year the Obama administration said the number of ground-based interceptors would reach 44 by 2017.
“An intercept was not achieved,” the Defense Department said in a statement, adding that program officials will conduct an “extensive review” to determine the cause of “any anomalies which may have prevented a successful intercept”.
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