28 September 2000 Defense Department Report: NMD Testing Continuing Even though President Clinton "did not make an affirmative decision" to move ahead with building any part of the National Missile Defense (NMD) system on September 1, Defense Department spokesman Ken Bacon says testing and development of the NMD program "continues apace." "We are on our normal schedule to continue development of a National Missile Defense system," the spokesman said as he announced that the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) had conducted two non-intercept flight tests in the Pacific on September 28. The results from the latest tests, which BMDO says "are designed to exercise various elements" of the NMD system, are not yet available according to Bacon. Speaking during the regular Defense Department briefing on September 28, he said the target vehicles for both "Risk Reduction Flights (RRF)" were launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to the Kwajelein Missile test range in the Pacific. "The first flight was designed to test the radar's ability to discriminate among (some 20) objects in space," Bacon said. The other flight sought to test "some of the components of Integrated Test (Number) 6 which will take place some time early next year," he added. A September 28 BMDO release on the testing events says the two RRFs will "help reduce technical risks for the next NMD flight test." More information on the NMD program is available on the Web at http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/arms/nmd (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) Return to the Washington File