What happens when the Pentagon’s new ballistic missile defeat program doesn’t work? They keep using the old one, which has a spotty track record.

CAPITOL HILL: America’s missile defense strategy is “not sustainable,” the deputy director of the Missile Defense Agency said today. We can’t keep buying multi-million-dollar interceptors to shoot down adversaries’ ever-growing arsenals of much cheaper offensive missiles, said Brig. Gen. Kenneth Todorov. We have to find a better way, Todorov said: lasers, jammers, something. That means… Keep reading →

“Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle” is arguably the most awesome name on record for a Pentagon program. Technologically, the Raytheon-built EKV is pretty impressive, able to hit an incoming missile head-on at over 15,000 miles per hour. Some background: The Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle is the business end of the missile defense system now based in Alaska and… Keep reading →

Washington: The stress and strain of flying through outer space proved too much for a futuristic Pentagon weapon, causing it to fail a key test flight last December. Pressure caused by “outer space-related dynamic environments” on the Missile Defense Agency’s Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) wreaked havoc on the weapon’s control system, causing it to fly… Keep reading →