D'oh! Failed again

A test of the national missile defense system failed Monday when an interceptor missile did not launch from its island base in the Pacific Ocean, the military said. It was the second failure in months for the experimental program.

[...]

A spokesman for the agency, Rick Lehner, said the early indications was that there was a malfunction with the ground support equipment at the test range on Kwajalein Island, not with the interceptor missile itself.

If verified, that would be a relief for program officials because it would mean no new problems had been discovered with the missile.
  CBS article

Well, what a relief to know it's not a new problem. In case you wondered, these test launches cost $85 million each.

By the way, this is the defense system that only works in good weather - if it will ever work. And if the enemy is kind enough to put a homing beacon on their missiles as well as launch them only on clear days. Oh, and if they don't send up any decoys, either.

And, this is also the system that is set up in California and Alaska for the express purpose of blocking a North Korean attack. There are eight interceptors already in place, and more being built - even though they still haven't had a successful test.

The previous test, on Dec. 15, failed under almost identical circumstances. The target missile launched, but the interceptor did not. Military officials later blamed that failure on fault-tolerance software that was oversensitive to small errors in the flow of data between the missile and a flight computer. The software shut down the launch; officials said they would decrease the sensitivity in future launches.

Oh, sweet Jesus. That's just great. If it's too sensitive to errors, we'll just fix it so it ignores the errors. Great fucking idea. I hope the error it ignores isn't the one that reroutes it to downtown San Francisco or homes it in on a TWA flight.

This whole fiasco reminds me of the way we won the war. Remember that?

....but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

And, P.S. I would just like to point out that the war games referred to in that last link, which were held pre-Iraq in 2002, were scripted to simulate a war in Iran in 2007. Yes, Virginia, we've always had Iran on the calendar. Bases in Iraq and Afghanistan from which to launch attacks had to come first.