'Star Wars' missile defense system fails again

We all know that a top of the line missile defense system will protect us from cave-dwelling terrorists who use airplanes as missiles – after all, that’s why we’ve spent billions of dollars since September 11, 2001 developing “Son Of Star Wars”, a scaled down version of Ronald Reagan’s original crackpot design. The most recent test (each of which costs taxpayers more than $85 million) was a complete failure. It’s ok though – I’m sure the North Korean decision makers are far too nice to exploit a US military failure…

For the second time in two months, and the third straight time in two years, a test of the national missile defense system has failed, reports the Los Angeles Times. Although mock ballistic missile launched Sunday from Alaska without problems, the interceptor designed to shoot it down failed to launch from the Ronald Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean.

The New York Times reports that officials at the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) at the Department of Defense took some “consolation” from the fact that they beleive it was not the missile itself that failed, but a “malfunction in ground support systems."

The L.A. Times reports that analysts say each setback “diminishes credibility” in the program known as Son of Star Wars, (a scaled-down version of the original program proposed in the 80s by Ronald Reagan) at a time when North Korea has just announced that it possesses nuclear weapons.

“It’s certainly embarrassing at a time when the administration has basically decided that its North Korea policy is missile defense,” said John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a nonprofit defense analysis group. “You don’t get second chances in nuclear combat.”

Bloomberg News reports that the…

Posted by Number5Toad
Toad style is immensely strong, and immune to nearly any weapon. When it's properly used, it's almost invincible.