The Pentagon on Wednesday said its Ground-based Midcourse Defense system can take down missiles flying through the atmosphere, but that optimistic view is not widely shared.
"Partly we are failing because it is the hardest thing the Pentagon has tried to do," Phil Coyle, former Pentagon chief weapons tester, said. "We've had more success with short-range and medium-range systems. But they are going more slowly, they are traveling in the atmosphere. That is different than traveling at 15,000 miles per hour in space. Especially when the enemy is trying to fool you."
A May 30 test was deemed a success, but the system still is meant to rely on a multi-pronged approach, and not just an interceptor missile model.
"It doesn't exist in a vacuum," said Thomas Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It should be understood in the larger deterrent and defense posture of the United States."