THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 12, 1995 TAG: 9502120058
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
After a months-long buildup and a scrubbed launch Friday, the Navy on Saturday abruptly pulled the plug on television and press coverage of the first on-ship test of a new missile-defense system.
The service cited ``uncertainties concerning the rescheduled launch window'' in explaining its decision to cancel live broadcast of the test. The ``early hour'' - the test now is set for between 4 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. today - also was a factor in the change, a statement said.
But a defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that after news stories highlighted Friday's failure, higher-ups in the Pentagon who had opposed coverage of the experiment were able to get the decision reversed.
A Pentagon spokesman said he was unaware of the decision to bar live coverage of the rescheduled test.
In the test, an ``attack'' missile launched from NASA's test facility at Wallops Island, Va., is to be intercepted and destroyed by another rocket fired from the cruiser Richmond K. Turner off the North Carolina coast. Friday's attempt had to be called off because of problems with NASA's radar.
The Navy set up an elaborate satellite hookup to beam pictures of the launches from Wallops and the Turner back to the Pentagon for reporters and the service brass to watch. A tiny camera aboard the interceptor was to provide video of the final seconds before impact.
Saturday's announcement said the Defense Department will reveal results of the test and release tapes of the launches and impact later.
The Navy is attempting to develop the system, using missiles already in its inventory. The warheads atop those rockets are to be replaced with a ``light exoatmospheric projectile'' or LEAP vehicle, containing a high-tech guidance system and thrusters that stabilize it and keep it on course to the target.
Two contractors, Rockwell International and Hughes Missile Systems, are developing competing versions of the LEAP. The system is designed to intercept and smash attacking missiles outside the atmos-phere, providing a protective umbrella over a large area.
The Army's Patriot missiles, the only missile defense system now operational, work within the atmos-phere and contain explosives that are detonated as the Patriot approaches the target. The LEAP vehicle has no explosives; it and its target travel so fast that both are destroyed by the force of their collision. by CNB