HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- Xinhua
Peoples Republic of
China
U.S. Cancels Navy Missile Defense
Program
WASHINGTON, December 15
(Xinhua) -- In a serious setback for the
Bush's administration's national missile defense plan, the Pentagon has canceled a multibillion-dollar missile defense system being developed by the Navy. A Washington Post report said Saturday that the Pentagon cited "poor performance" and 50 percent cost overruns for the cancellation Friday. The Navy Area Missile Defense Program, which was scheduled to be deployed in two years, was designed to protect Navy ships and ports from attacks by missiles or manned aircraft. In January 1997, the program scored an initial success when it managed to hit a target missile during its first test. But after that, there were numerous problems of integration, and the test schedule kept slipping until it became untenable, Pentagon officials said. Also, the Pentagon is required by law to prove that any program going more than 25 percent over budget is essential to national security. But local media quoted an official in charge of military programs in development as saying that the Defense Department could not prove it in the Navy program. The surprise cancellation, combined with the failure Thursday of an intercept rocket that was being tested for use in land-based missile defense system, raised question over whether the United States would be able to deploy any missile defense programs on the timetable projected by the Bush administration. The move came one day after President George W. Bush formally notified Russia that the U.S. would pull out of the 1972 Anti- Ballistic Missile Treaty to clear the way for the development and deployment of a national missile defense system. The administration said that one of the main reasons for withdrawing was its desire to test part of a sea-based missile defense system. The Navy system was the most advanced of various "theater" missile defense systems, which were well ahead of the planned national missile system designed to intercept long-range missiles in the boost phase and in mid-course. The Post quoted experts as saying that the cancellation of the Navy program was a very serious setback for those more complicated national missile defense schemes. Enditem
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