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Missile’s third stage
By Anthony Sommer
fails in Kauai test,
cause unknown
Star-BulletinBARKING SANDS, Kauai - During a test, the third stage of the Navy's new anti-missile missile failed to separate from the second stage and did not ignite, Navy officials said yesterday.
A statement issued Friday, the day of the test, said only that there had been an unspecified malfunction.
The test was the second in a series of evaluation flights of the Navy Theater Wide defense missile, the service's top priority weapons development program. It is designed to protect Navy ships and troops ashore in a combat zone from incoming hostile rockets.
The first test, which did not include firing the third stage, went flawlessly last September. It was also at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on the west tip of Kauai.
Friday's test was conducted specifically to test the third stage. The missile was fired from the Pearl Harbor-based cruiser USS Lake Erie over the horizon and out of sight from Kauai.
Yesterday, the Navy said its engineers and those from missile-builder Raytheon have yet to determine why the third stage malfunctioned. They said Friday's failure will not add any additional flights to the test schedule. The unmet objectives for Friday's test will be wrapped into the next flight, which is primarily to test the guidance system.
On the positive side, the Navy said the computer system aboard the Lake Erie, specially programmed to fire the Navy Theater Wide missile, the tracking equipment on Kauai and the booster and second stage rockets all performed as expected.
