The Missile Defense Agency says that it plans to conduct four tests of its ground-based missile defense system this year, according to the Fairbanks (AK) Daily News-Miner. The agency would not disclose specific dates, but a spokesman did tell the paper that the agency would conduct three tests (not sequential) using Alaska’s Kodiak Island as the launch point for a target missile. There will be no interceptor missile fired for those three; they are data gathering opportunities only, says MDA. No. 2 on the dance program, however, will feature the first interceptor launch from Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
