Rumsfeld hails missile work

Pentagon chief tells of need to develop new defense system

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

By SHELBY G. SPIRES

Times Aerospace Writer shelbys@htimes.com

The first element of America's missile defense shield will soon be ready for use in Alaska, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told a crowd of more than 1,000 people at the Space and Missile Defense Conference this morning.

Rumsfeld thanked the gathering of missile defense engineers, managers and military leaders gathered at Hunts-ville's Von Braun Center, saying their "work was indispensable" to establishing the missile shield that is scheduled to go online before Oct. 1.

"There were some who wondered if we would ever see this day of deployment and beyond," Rumsfeld said.

Rumsfeld acknowledged Huntsville's contribution to missile and space development when he recalled a trip here to speak with Dr. Wernher von Braun about the Apollo program.

"I remember my first visit here was a very long time ago, in the early 1960s," Rumsfeld said. "I was a young member of the House Science Committee. ... I can't be that old." Rumsfeld is 72.

Deployment of the missile defense shield is directly related to America's weaknesses, Rumsfeld said. Enemies exploit weaknesses, he said. "We have a weakness and it's a weakness with respect to ballistic missiles. The longer we wait to deploy then the more likely there will be an attack."

Missile defense experts who spoke Tuesday at the conference said the quest to build a missile defense system will not end by October and improvements will depend largely on the work done in Huntsville.

Experts at the seventh annual conference predicted the system will have to undergo constant improvement. The conference will run through Thursday and brings together aerospace industry and military missile defense experts.

A missile defense site is scheduled to be activated at Fort Greely in Alaska, but it will be a limited system designed to take out simple threats from nations like North Korea. Over the next decade, the Missile Defense Agency wants to spend more than $50 billion to improve the system and give it the capability to take out more advanced missiles that could be launched by nations such as China.

"We can't stop there and slap ourselves on the back and say we've done it and then go home," said Jeff Schrepple, conference chairman.

Maj. Gen. John Holly, ground-based missile defense program director, said the ground-based system will have a limited capability that "must be improved over time."

"It will be more than we have today, because today we have zero," Holly said.

The Patriot missile is the only proved missile interceptor, but the Patriot works solely against short-range missiles. ICBMs enter the atmosphere too fast for the Patriot.

Rumsfeld today countered criticism that the missile defense system would not work or would further turn nations against the United States. The Missile Defense Agency's testing program "shows that it does work," he said, and many nations - Japan, Italy and Israel, to name a few - have stronger relations with the United States today because of missile defense.

"From time to time people speak of the failed tests," Rumsfeld said. "I have difficulty with that characterization because we learn from a success and a failure. I can't understand why anyone would see learning as a failure."

Holly said the system would continue to be tested. Flight tests get a lot of attention, he said, "especially the ones that don't work." But it is the realistic simulation work, much of which is done in Huntsville, that improves the system.

"The flight tests attract all the attention, but these are unique tests with single point objectives," Holly said.

Data collected from the test flights point out weaknesses in the simulation work. Engineers take this information back to labs and use computers to run missile hardware through realistic tests, Holly said.

They use the same hardware, software and processors that would be on the interceptors. Holly said the only difference between a test in Huntsville and one done over Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific is that a flight test "provides rain or environmental situations that I can't call up on a moment's notice."




Rumsfeld hails missile work Pentagon chief tells of need to develop new defense system Wednesday, August 18, 2004 By SHELBY G. SPIRES Times Aerospace Writer shelbys@htimes.com The first element of America's missile defense shield will soon be ready for use in Alaska, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told a crowd of more than 1,000 people at the Space and Missile Defense Conference this morning. Rumsfeld thanked the gathering of missile defense engineers, managers and military leaders gathered at Hunts-ville's Von Braun Center, saying their "work was indispensable" to establishing the missile shield that is scheduled to go online before Oct. 1. "There were some who wondered if we would ever see this day of deployment and beyond," Rumsfeld said. Rumsfeld acknowledged Huntsville's contribution to missile and space development when he recalled a trip here to speak with Dr. Wernher von Braun about the Apollo program. "I remember my first visit here was a very long time ago, in the early 1960s," Rumsfeld said. "I was a young member of the House Science Committee. ... I can't be that old." Rumsfeld is 72. Deployment of the missile defense shield is directly related to America's weaknesses, Rumsfeld said. Enemies exploit weaknesses, he said. "We have a weakness and it's a weakness with respect to ballistic missiles. The longer we wait to deploy then the more likely there will be an attack." Missile defense experts who spoke Tuesday at the conference said the quest to build a missile defense system will not end by October and improvements will depend largely on the work done in Huntsville. Experts at the seventh annual conference predicted the system will have to undergo constant improvement. The conference will run through Thursday and brings together aerospace industry and military missile defense experts. A missile defense site is scheduled to be activated at Fort Greely in Alaska, but it will be a limited system designed to take out simple threats from nations like North Korea. Over the next decade, the Missile Defense Agency wants to spend more than $50 billion to improve the system and give it the capability to take out more advanced missiles that could be launched by nations such as China. "We can't stop there and slap ourselves on the back and say we've done it and then go home," said Jeff Schrepple, conference chairman. Maj. Gen. John Holly, ground-based missile defense program director, said the ground-based system will have a limited capability that "must be improved over time." "It will be more than we have today, because today we have zero," Holly said. The Patriot missile is the only proved missile interceptor, but the Patriot works solely against short-range missiles. ICBMs enter the atmosphere too fast for the Patriot. Rumsfeld today countered criticism that the missile defense system would not work or would further turn nations against the United States. The Missile Defense Agency's testing program "shows that it does work," he said, and many nations - Japan, Italy and Israel, to name a few - have stronger relations with the United States today because of missile defense. "From time to time people speak of the failed tests," Rumsfeld said. "I have difficulty with that characterization because we learn from a success and a failure. I can't understand why anyone would see learning as a failure." Holly said the system would continue to be tested. Flight tests get a lot of attention, he said, "especially the ones that don't work." But it is the realistic simulation work, much of which is done in Huntsville, that improves the system. "The flight tests attract all the attention, but these are unique tests with single point objectives," Holly said. Data collected from the test flights point out weaknesses in the simulation work. Engineers take this information back to labs and use computers to run missile hardware through realistic tests, Holly said. They use the same hardware, software and processors that would be on the interceptors. Holly said the only difference between a test in Huntsville and one done over Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific is that a flight test "provides rain or environmental situations that I can't call up on a moment's notice." Copyright 2004 al.com. All Rights Reserved.