Key ‘Star Wars’ Missile Test Conducted

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. — A key step in “Star Wars” technology was undertaken Friday in the first test of a weapon designed to demolish nuclear warheads, officials said.

The Army tested its High Endoatmospheric Defense Interceptor, which is designed to stop nuclear warheads with a head-on collision before they reach ground targets. But the kill vehicle, that portion of the weapon designed to intercept, detonated before separating from the booster.

The HEDI is one of the multiple layers planned for the Strategic Defense Initiative or “Star Wars” system.

Still, the project manager called the test successful, saying separation from the booster, although not achieved, was the only one of 10 objectives.

“We wanted the missile to go into a kind of coast phase and then separate the kill vehicle and then blow the warhead. We didn’t get to do that separation of the kill vehicle,” Alan Sherer said.

The HEDI flight test was the first since the Pentagon initiated the six-year, $383-million project in January, 1986, to design a weapon against enemy warheads in their last stage of flight.