THE US is scaling back some of its more exotic projects to fend off enemy missiles, amid thorny technological problems.
The plan, announced by US defence secretary Robert Gates last week, includes cuts in funding for an aircraft-mounted laser to heat and destroy missiles. It has been difficult to build a laser powerful enough for the job yet light enough to fly (New Scientist, 15 December 2008).
All work would also cease on an advanced interceptor missile that releases multiple 鈥渒ill vehicles鈥� to stop a missile and any decoys it may have released. The idea is to have sufficient interceptors to destroy all the incoming objects, but critics point out that it would be easy to overwhelm simply by increasing the number of decoys.
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Laura Grego of the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Massachusetts, welcomes the cuts, but would like to see the missile defence programme curtailed further. Given its severe technical problems, it is unlikely to be reliable, she says. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want a missile defence that gives you a false sense of security.鈥� The plan awaits approval by Congress.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want a missile defence system that gives you a false sense of security鈥�
