Motor blamed for scrubbed missile test

WASHINGTON, May 26 (UPI) -- It might be late summer before the United States can try again with a test of its missile-defense system that had to be scrubbed this week.

Friday's planned intercept of an unarmed inter-continental ballistic missile had to be canceled when the target vehicle suffered a malfunction that prevented it from getting into range of the interceptor, the New York Times reported.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, head of the Missile Defense Agency, said while the interceptor remains ready for launch in California, it would likely be August before another target missile could be readied.

Obering said preliminary information is that a problem with the second-stage motor of the Cold War-era Polaris missile prevented it from getting from its launch pad in Alaska into range for the interceptor that was to have been launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

"It fell well short of the intended area," the general said. "The system itself never had a chance to recognize it as a threat, and so did not respond to the target."