New Mexico wants isles’
missile test business
WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. >> Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., wants the Defense Department to consider testing medium-range anti-missile systems over land rather than the Pacific Ocean, and he thinks New Mexico is a good place to do that.
The testing involves firing interceptor missiles at target missiles from sites hundreds of miles apart.
Testing over land gives researchers a more accurate picture of how radar systems and other instruments work. Researchers can also recover spent hardware from tests for further study.
Currently, medium-range defense systems are tested in Hawaii and at other spots in the Pacific.
If the tests were done in New Mexico at the White Sands Missile Range, it would likely mean launching targets and interceptors into Four Corners airspace not currently under military jurisdiction. Airline flight paths through the area would likely be cleared during tests, and roads would probably be blocked in hazardous areas.
Overland testing could also pose environmental dangers to surrounding areas, said Victoria Samson of the private Center for Defense Information in Washington.
Another potential downside, falling debris, could be a risk to those under the flight paths. The Defense Department would have to find a lightly populated flight corridor that poses minimum danger.
White Sands has hosted similar tests before. During 1990s development of the newest Patriot missile, targets were launched from Fort Wingate near Gallup toward the Tularosa Basin. At least twice, targets malfunctioned and had to be crashed into remote areas.
Under Domenici's proposal, the Defense Department would first decide whether overland tests are needed. If so, the military would study potential test areas and report back to Congress.