U.S. Ballistic Missle Defense System Test is a success!

Interceptor downs missile in test over Pacific

An interceptor missile destroyed a mock warhead over the Pacific Ocean on Friday in a key test of the nation's missile defense system, U.S. military officials said.

The 54-foot interceptor missle was launched at 10:39 a.m., from the Ronald W. Reagan Missle Defense Site, located at Vandenberg Air Base in Calif. 17 minutes after the mock warhead was launched from Kodiak Island, Alaska, Lehner said.

The interceptor carried a refrigerator-size "kill vehicle" that locked on to the approaching mock enemy missile and flew into the 4-foot-long warhead at 18,000 mph.

Lehner said both disintegrated more than 100 miles above Earth and a few hundred miles west of Vandenberg. The interceptor's flight lasted 13 minutes.

The $85 million test was designed to see whether the "kill vehicle" could get close to the warhead to test the tracking and sensor systems which would be used in an actual missile attack.

This is a major break through for us. Especially with North Korea and Iran threatening with nukes. Let's not forget that on the 4th of July, North Korea unsuccessfully test-fired a missile that was believed capable of reaching the northwestern U.S. coast.

Thank God for former President Ronald Reagan's vision of having a missle defense system. He started this program in 1983 with heavy criticism from the democrats who said the cost was not worth the outcome. The U.S. has spent over 100 billion dollars on this program over a 23 year period. If this can stop a long range missle comming from North Korea or anywhere else, I say it is worth every penny spent.