The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency has been trying to conduct a flight test of its ground-based missile defense system, set to be placed "on alert" and officially "deployed" any day now. It's a good thing they're doing the test--as it's the first flight test in 2 years.
But for 3 days now, the MDA has prepared to do the test, set everything up, and scrapped it at the last minute. The reason? Stormy weather. What kind of stormy weather? Hurricanes? Tornados? Tsunamis? Um, no. Not even RAIN. "It is just heavy cloud cover,'' said Rick Lehner, MDA spokesperson, according to an AP report.
The multi-billion dollar project that is supposed to locate, track, and intercept an oncoming warhead in the coldness of space with a counter-EKV (exoatmospheric kill vehicle) of its own, with the assistance of a dizzying array of radars, sensors, satellites, trans-continental communications hookups and a command center located at the heart of our strategic military command center (STRATCOM), apparently doesn't test well when the weather is less than a perfect Southern California summer afternoon.
It makes me long for the days of B-2 stealth bombers whose stealth coating came off in the rain and so had to live in special hangers and only fly on nice days. Then again...maybe the same folks who used to work on the B-2 project now work on missile defense...it all starts to make sense...
For now, here's to hoping for good weather...and that no one who wants to shoot a missile at us can read the weather reports.
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