Representatives of the US Air Force reported the failure of tests of an interceptor missile of the Raytheon SM-3 type, which ended on September 2. The Standard Missile (SM) -3 Block IB missile, according to the declared standards, should intercept all types of intercontinental missiles and become one of the core elements of the new European missile defense system. According to one of the military experts, following the unsuccessful launch of the interceptor, the missile defense development programs created in the United States can be significantly adjusted.
As reported in an official statement, the Standard SM-3 Block IB short-range ballistic missile was launched from a training ground located on the island of Kauai (Hawaii) at 09:53 (17:53 Moscow time) on the east coast of the United States. According to the US Department of Defense's missile defense agency, 90 seconds later, an interceptor missile was launched from the Lake Erie drifting cruiser, but the target could not be destroyed. Standard SM-3s destroy ballistic missiles as well as their warheads by directly hitting them. It is these interceptor missiles, according to the plans of the US presidential administration, should be deployed in 2015 in Romania, and three years later in Poland. Another test failure took place against the backdrop of increasing pressure on Barack Obama and his administration in connection with plans to deploy missile defense elements in Europe.
Recall that the incident with the SM-3 is far from the first failure of the American military with the latest weapons in recent years. So, at the beginning of August this year in the Pacific Ocean the world's fastest aircraft Falcon HTV-2 crashed, the main feature of which was the ability to develop a speed of more than 20 times the speed of sound. The super-high-speed aircraft was launched using a special launch vehicle from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. After some time, communication with the device was lost. Similar problems also occurred during the first test of this aircraft in early spring 2010.
It remains to be seen whether this apparent failure will cause the deployment of a missile defense system in Europe to be postponed. In total, the Pentagon planned to purchase more than 300 anti-missile missiles of this type over five years at a price of $ 12 to $ 15 million per missile.
According to a source in the US Department of Defense in an interview with Aviation Week, the first part of the SM-3 test task - targeting - was carried out successfully. According to a Pentagon spokesman, obviously, the problem turned out to be specifically in the interceptor missile itself, according to another version, the failure was caused by poor communication of the missile with the base ship from which the launch was carried out.
According to Rick Lehner, a spokesman for the Missile Defense Agency, the investigation will make it clear whether changes will be made to the test program of the SM-3 missile. Until Friday, September 2, the military department planned to test such missiles at least twice a year.
While in service with the US military is the previous version of the interceptor missile - SM-3 Block 1A. These interceptors are deployed on ships of the US Navy, patrolling the seas in various parts of the world. They also protect borders near states that, according to the White House, pose a particular danger - in this case, we are talking about North Korea and Iran.
American military experts expressed their doubts about the effectiveness of the new SM-3 missiles back in 2010. While the US Department of Defense claims that the missile in preliminary tests destroyed 84% of the targets, Theodore Postol, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and physicist George Lewis found that the effectiveness analysis was performed with irregularities in calculations and effectively destroyed targets can be considered only 10 -twenty%. According to the conclusion of scientists, a significant part of the warheads was simply knocked off course, and not completely destroyed.
It is worth noting that the intentions of the US Department of State to expand the area covered by the missile defense system causes quite justified concern in Russia. First of all, this is due to the fact that, under certain options, this can significantly reduce the effectiveness of Russia's strategic forces and pose an immediate threat to the security of the state. On this occasion, statements were made not only by representatives of the RF Ministry of Defense, but also by top leaders of the state, including RF President Dmitry Medvedev.
In his speech this spring in Skolkovo, the president commented on all the assurances of the American government that missile defense is not directed against our country as follows: “Usually we are told: we are defending ourselves from Iran, or someone else. They do not have such opportunities - does it mean that all this is being prepared against us? In connection with the growing problem of missile defense, Dmitry Medvedev recalled that in the future, Russia reserves the unilateral right to withdraw from the current START Treaty if the United States continues to accelerate the development of missile defense in Europe.
