Panel Faults US Anti-Missile Efforts

Washington - November 14, 1999 - US efforts to develop an anti-missile defense system have been hamstrung by inadequate testing, shortages of parts and lapses in management, according to an independent report cited Sunday in the Washington Post.

In the 40-page report commissioned by the US Defense Department, the independent panel also warned that recent delays in testing have hurt US missile development.

"There is unusual fragmentation and confusion about authority and responsibility" in the US missile program, said the report, which Pentagon officials forwarded to Congress last week.

The 12-member panel of former military officers and civilian defense experts reportedly recommended increased missile testing, additional hardware and more stringent oversight of the program.

According to the Post, the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, which coordinates the US government antimissile programs, issued a two-page statement agreeing with most of the panel's recommendations.

The report came to light as US President Bill Clinton prepared for a decision later this year on whether to approve the building of a multi-billion dollar anti-missile system.

DoD: National Missile Defense Official Site

FAS: National Missile Defense - Analysis and Links

MILSPACE
Raygun Software Tests Okay
Seattle - October 25, 1999 - Team ABL has successfully demonstrated integrated Battle Management hardware and software for the Airborne Laser in the Virtual ABL Facility at Boeing in Seattle. The ABL weapon system will use a megawatt-class chemical laser mounted on a modified 747-400 Freighter aircraft to shoot down theater ballistic missiles in their boost phase as soon as 2003. It is the Department of Defense's choice for the boost-phase intercept element of its theater ballistic missile defense architecture. ABL will protect civilian and key military assets from attack by missiles such as the Scuds used by Iraq during the Persian Gulf War.