THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 13, 1995 TAG: 9502130074
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
It was another good morning for gremlins Sunday as the Navy was forced, for the second time in three days, to abort an at-sea test of an experimental missile defense system.
Sailors aboard the cruiser Richmond K. Turner could not keep their tracking systems properly locked on an ``attack'' rocket launched from NASA's test site at Wallops Island, Va., said Lt. Cmdr. Ken Ross, a Navy spokesman. They aborted the launch of an interceptor missile with about one minute left in its countdown, he said.
NASA then sent a self-destruct order to the attack missile, which blew up shortly after 5 a.m., more than 85 miles above the Atlantic.
Another test attempt has not been scheduled, Ross said. The Turner was headed back to its homeport of Charleston, S.C., so a third try is at least several days away.
The Turner was receiving data from NASA on the attack missile's trajectory and speed, Ross said. But test rules called for the ship also to have its own ``fire control solution'' - a radar lock on the target and a projection of its location at the time of the intercept - before firing the interceptor.
Ross said the ship is coming to port simply to avoid having it sit idly off the Carolina coast until the test is rescheduled. Sunday's failure is ``just one of those things that happens,'' and the Navy does not believe a problem exists with any of the ship's systems, he added.
The Navy is attempting to develop its own ``Star Wars'' defense system by modifying missiles already in its inventory. For Sunday's test, a special projectile with its own infrared guidance system and thrusters was mounted atop a Terrier missile aboard the Turner. The projectile would have been ejected from the Terrier in the last seconds before impact with the attack missile.
Friday morning, an initial test attempt was scrubbed because of radar problems at Wallops Island. by CNB