It’s too early to tell. That was the message Monday from Pacific Missile Range Facility on any effect on the Kaua’i base following last week’s announcement that the Navy has canceled its Area Missile Defense program. If successful, the program,
It’s too early to tell.
That was the message Monday from Pacific Missile Range Facility on any effect on the Kaua’i base following last week’s announcement that the Navy has canceled its Area Missile Defense program.
If successful, the program, which cost almost $3 billion in the past five years, would have knocked down incoming enemy missiles at sea.
PMRF hadn’t been involved in the program, and it was unclear Monday if the base might have eventually had a role.
“We don’t really know at this time what effect, if any, the cuts will have here,” said PMRF spokeswoman Vida Mossman. “We are way out here and way down on the food chain.”
The cancellation of the missile defense program came after its second test, launched last Thursday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, malfunctioned in the first 30 seconds, veered off course and plunged into the Pacific Ocean about one mile off the coast from the base, which is 55 miles north of Santa Barbara.
The program was two years behind schedule and 50 percent over budget at the time of cancellation.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
