Kwajalein, Marshall Islands makes another "catch" for US missile program

An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICMB) was launched from California at 2:06 a.m. Wednesday toward its Kwajalein Missile Range target, in the western Marshall Islands. The Boeing Company-made, 60-foot missile's three unarmed re-entry vehicles was to travel approximately 4,200 miles from Vandenburg Air Force Base to the Kwajalein Range in about 30 minutes, according to the US Department of Defense.

Nicknamed "the world's largest catcher's mitt," the Kwajalein lagoon is the target and splashdown point for the (ICBMs) fired from Vandenburg. These tests, which largely take place at night, light up the sky in the Marshalls with a spectacular display of explosions, burning debris and sonic booms, as described by the new Kwajalein.org website sponsored by the Marshallese landowners of Kwajalein Atoll.

Kwajalein.org - Kwaj missile range history, Compact issues, KNC viewpoints

MDAlink - US Missile Defense Agency news & info page.

Some of Kwajalein’s islands are leased to the U.S. by the landowners through the Government of the Marshall Islands for the use of what is now known as the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, and are under the control of the U.S. Department of Defense. Kwajalein Atoll ranks number one out of twenty-one missile test ranges of the U.S., and is the only site with a testing range measured in thousands of miles.

The US Missile Defense Agency is planning to extend its test range capability to provide more realistic flight testing of the GMD system, in which the Kwajalein Missile Range will play a prominent role. Kwajalein is also one of six possible home sites for a new 25-story-tall radar dome and platform. Assessments of the proposed Sea-Based X-Band Radar and new Ground-Base program were included in an environmental impact statement released by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency last week.

According to the director of the US Air Force Rocket Systems Launch Program, another program is soon to begin. U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft will begin launching ballistic missile targets over the Pacific Ocean in November. The first test of the new target is scheduled to take place at Kwajalein, reported the Space and Missile Times last month.

In the Marshalls, the Kwajalein landowners have been in opposition to provisions for Kwajalein usage in the proposed amended Compact. Reauthorization after fifteen years of the first Compact will give another twenty years of continued aid to the Marshalls. The Kwajalein Negotiation Commission (KNC), representing the landowners, has not agreed to the $15 million annually proposed by the US, but wants a rental fee of 19.1 million dollars, along with trust and environmental funds set up to sustain the island when the US misile program pulls-out.

--Compiled by Aenet Rowa, Yokwe Online, August 6, 2003