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Not Quite Ready


Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org

Donald Rumsfeld told reporters in Alaska Sunday that America’s fledgling missile defense capability needs more testing, but “with each passing month [it] has become more capable.” However, the US Defense Secretary wants to see a full system test, “where we actually put all the pieces” together to see if the system can, in fact, hit a warhead in flight. In contrast, the head of the Missile Defense Agency, Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry Obering III, expressed confidence both before and after Pyongyang’s July 4 fireworks that the US system could have shot down North Korea’s long-range missile. There is no plan to have Thursday’s demonstration hit a test target vehicle, but Obering told reporters it will be “about as realistic as you can get.” MDA expects to test the system’s ability to actually hit a target vehicle in December.

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org