democratizing GIS
Home   Store   Free GIS   Education   Free Shapefiles   Census   Weather   Energy   Climate Change   News   Maps   TOPO   Aerial   GPS   Learn GIS

DOWNLOAD SHAPEFILES: Canada FSA Postal - Zip Code - U.S. Waterbodies & Wetlands - Geographic Names - School Districts - Indian Federal Lands
Zip Code/Demographics - Climate Change - U.S. Streams, Rivers & Waterways - Tornadoes - Nuclear Facilities - Dams & Risk - 2013 Toxic Release Inventory TRI

ANWR Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; What is at stake; removed USFWS website; photos, maps, descriptions

tools for survival plans Maps Food Water Health Gardening Energy Housing Security Communications Livelihood

Money Making Tips Work from Home Make Money Used Lumber & Building Materal Beginner's Guide Buy/Sell Gold Electronics & Computer

GIS Shapefile Store - for Beginners & Experienced GIS Users Alike. Geographic Names Information System, Nuclear Facilities, Zip Code Boundaries, School Districts, Indian & Federal Lands, Climate Change, Tornadoes, Dams - Create digital GIS maps in minutes.

Toxic Release Inventory TRI Shapefiles

Canada FSA Postal Code Shapefile

GNIS Shapefiles 2,000,000+ Points

Nuclear Energy Facilities in the U.S.

Download Zip Code with Demographics Shapefiles

Download U.S. Streams & Rivers Shapefiles

Download Water Body & Wetland Shapefiles

Download Zip Code Boundary Shapefiles

Download School District Shapefiles

Download Indian & Federal Land Shapefiles

Download Climate Change Shapefiles

Download Tornado Shapefiles

Download Dams & Risks Shapefiles

Follow Mapcruzin.com on Twitter Follow on Twitter

Didn't find what you are looking for? Email me and I'll find it for you.

Progressive Links

Federation of American Scientists

Physicians for Social Responsibility

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility

Union of Concerned Scientists

Alternet

Reader Supported News

Common Dreams

Truthout

Huffington Post

Media Matters

Think Progress

Grist Environmental News

Climate Shift Blog

MapCruzin Consulting
Data Research and GIS Specialists.

GIS Tutorials

GIS Basics

GIS Terminology

Of Interest

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Maps

Climate Shift - The effects of climate shift on the future of planet earth and its inhabitants.

Right to Know or Left to Wonder?

Hazardscapes - Toxic and Nuclear Risks in your backyard.

War & Environment

Worst Case Scenarios: Terrorism & industrial chemicals.

Missile Defense System Canceled: Navy Program Woes Cause Bush Setback
Fair Use Statement

Sponsors

<-- Return To 21st Century Warfare

In Depth:
The Phantom Defense: America's Pursuit of the Star Wars Illusion.
Strategic Deception: Rhetoric, Science, and Politics in Missile Defense Advocacy.

Source: Truthout.com

Missile Defense System Canceled Navy Program Woes Cause Bush Setback

By Thomas E. Ricks and Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, December 15, 2001; Page A01

The Pentagon, in a serious setback for the Bush administration's missile defense plans, yesterday canceled a multibillion-dollar missile defense system being developed by the Navy, citing "poor performance" and 50 percent cost overruns.

The program, which was scheduled to be deployed in two years, was designed to protect Navy ships and ports from attacks by missiles or manned aircraft. Like the land-based Patriot antimissile system, it was intended to provide a last-ditch defense of small, selected areas if other defenses failed.

The surprise move to cancel the program, combined with the failure Thursday of an interceptor rocket that was being tested for use in a land-based missile defense system, called into question whether the United States would be able to develop any missile defense programs on the timetable projected by the Bush administration.

It came one day after President Bush formally notified Russia that the United States would withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to clear the way for unrestricted tests of missile defense systems that he hopes ultimately will provide a protective shield over the continental United States.

The timing of the Pentagon announcement prompted criticism that the administration had needlessly rushed to withdraw from the ABM Treaty.

Sponsors

The administration said that one of the main reasons for withdrawing was its desire to test part of a sea-based missile defense system.

The Navy program, called Area Missile Defense, has cost $2.8 billion since the early 1990s. It had been seen as one of the areas of missile defense furthest along in development and as a result likely to be deployed sooner than other systems that are planned to defend against longer-range missiles.

"It's unfortunate we've reached this point," the Pentagon's acquisition chief, Edward C. Aldridge, said in a statement. He said the Pentagon would continue trying to develop a system of knocking down incoming missiles at sea, but he did not say how.

Phil Coyle, former head of the Pentagon's office of weapons testing and evaluation, said the Navy system was the most advanced of various "theater" missile defense systems, which in contrast to national systems are designed to protect battlefields and other relatively small areas. He said that theater defense systems were well ahead of those more complicated national missile defense schemes that intercept missiles in the boost phase and in mid-course.

"And so for one of the shortest-range systems to be canceled is not a good sign," he said.

Joseph Cirincione, a missile defense critic at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, added, "You have to consider this a very serious setback for missile defense programs, because it shows that even the simple stuff is difficult."

Richard Perle, a missile defense advocate who served in the Pentagon during the Reagan administration, said he wasn't upset by the cancellation. "I'm for missile defenses, but I'm not for bad programs," he said. "I'd rather move cautiously."

John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an independent consulting firm, said he expected the Navy to renegotiate its contracts with companies working on the Navy Wide Area program, which include Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, L-3 Communications, United Defense and Orbital Sciences.

The Navy program would also have been used to protect warships and amphibious landing forces overseas, such as the ships operating in the Indian Ocean supporting operations by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

In January 1997, the program scored an initial success when it managed to hit a target missile during its first test, said Lt. Col. Rick Lehner, the spokesman for the Defense Department's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. But, he said, "after that, there were numerous problems of integration, and the test schedule kept slipping and slipping and slipping until it became untenable."

Coyle said the Navy program has been struggling with a wide range of technical issues, including the complexity of the computer program to be used on Aegis destroyers, discriminating between real and decoy missiles, search and tracking processors, and the cooling system on the infrared seekers that discern "hot" enemy missiles.

Because other missile defense programs face similar technical issues, the Navy cancellation did not augur well for missile defense in general, Coyle said.

The Navy announcement followed Thursday afternoon's failure of a prototype rocket booster that would be used in mid-course missile defenses.

The booster rocket, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, malfunctioned about 30 seconds into its flight, veered off course and plunged into the Pacific Ocean about one mile off the coast of the base, about 55 miles north of Santa Barbara, Calif.

"It's another setback," Coyle said. "This is supposed to be the easy part, the rocket science part." More difficult parts of the program are supposed to deal with distinguishing between real and decoy missiles.

The cause of the failure is under investigation, the Pentagon said. Thursday's launch was the second test of the three-stage prototype booster, designed and built by Boeing Co.

Sponsors

The first test launch on Aug. 31 was deemed a success by the Defense Department and Boeing.

During that launch, the booster rocket, carrying a mock "kill vehicle" to simulate the weight and mass of an actual missile that would be used in future intercept tests, traveled about 3,000 miles before falling into the Pacific, the Pentagon said.

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.)

In Depth:
The Phantom Defense: America's Pursuit of the Star Wars Illusion.
Strategic Deception: Rhetoric, Science, and Politics in Missile Defense Advocacy.

<-- Return To 21st Century Warfare

Didn't find what you are looking for? We've been online since 1996 and have created 1000's of pages. Search below and you may find just what you are looking for.


Michael R. Meuser
Data Research & GIS Specialist

MapCruzin.com is an independent firm specializing in GIS project development and data research. We created the first U.S. based interactive toxic chemical facility maps on the internet in 1996 and we have been online ever since. Learn more about us and our services.

Have a project in mind? If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs contact Mike.

Contact Us

Report Broken Links

Subscribe for Updates

Follow on Facebook
News & Updates

Find: Maps, Shapefiles, GIS Software & More

MapCruzin Blog for updates, questions and answers
Blog Updates

More Blog Updates

Downloads

Google Earth Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Maps
Lester Brown's Plan B 3.0
State GIS Shapefiles, Maps & Resources
GIS Shapefiles & Maps
GIS Programs, Tools & Resources
Free World Country & Regional Maps
GIS / GPS Careers and Job Positions
Disease Outbreak Maps
TOPO Maps
Extreme Weather & Disaster Maps
Free World Maps from the CIA Factbook
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ANWR Maps
Oil and Gas Maps
Africanized Honey Bees
Renewable Energy Potential Maps of the United States
Terrorism Maps
War Maps
Google Maps
Weather Maps
GPS Resources
Historical Maps of the World
Google Earth
Library of Congress American Memory Map Downloads
Toxic Chemical Pollution Maps
Climate Change Maps
Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Maps
Census Shapefiles
World Maps

Issues

Environmental Justice
Data Sources
Greenwash & JunkScience
Statistical Resources
Wireless Dangers
Surviving Climate Change
Global Right-To-Know
Creating Living Economies
Books of Note
Toxic Klamath River
Federal Lands Maps
TRI Analysis
TRI Webmaps
EnviroRisk Map Network
Community-Based Research
Right-To-Know or Left to Wonder?
Chemical Industry Archives
21st Century Warfare
Biotechnology
Nanotechnology
Globalization/Democracy
National Parks and Public Lands
Trade Secrets/Toxic Deception
GIS Books
Our Projects
Other Projects
1999 Archive Environews
Environmental Books
Environmental Links
Redwood Coast Information
Recycle, Salvage, Reuse

Resources
Shapefile Store
Free GIS Software
Free Map Downloads
Free Shapefiles
Free Remote Sensing
Free Topo Maps
Free GIS Tutorial
Free GPS
ToxicRisk.com
ClimateShift.com
Maptivist.com

About MapCruzin - Cookies, Privacy, Fair Use and Disclaimer - Advertise on MapCruzin.com

Copyright © 1996 - 2019 Michael Meuser, All Rights Reserved
MapCruzin is a Pop-Up Free Website -- Best Viewed With ANY Browser