Posted on: Wednesday, January 8, 2003

Army clears Kaua'i site for missile project

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — The Army has concluded that there will be no significant environmental impact from its plan to move its Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) research effort to Kaua'i, with up to 50 rocket launches over four years starting in 2005.

The program would include launches from the Pacific Missile Range Facility. It is aimed at providing U.S. troops with absolute protection against short and medium-range ballistic missiles. The Department of Defense has allocated $23.4 million this year for establishment of a THAAD test facility at the West Kaua'i missile range.

THAAD testing, which began on the Mainland in 1992, seeks to develop the technology to destroy enemy missiles while they are still in space or high in the atmosphere, so debris does not endanger troops on the battlefield.

After a series of misses during the middle 1990s, THAAD had two successive hits in 1999.

The first flights are scheduled to be launched from White Sands Missile Range. The program should move to the Pacific Missile Range Facility in fiscal 2005 or 2006. Launches could also take place from the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The ranges would fire the interceptor THAAD rockets, while targets would be launched from a range of sites, including ships, aircraft and from land.

The Missile Defense Agency conducted an environmental assessment on THAAD launches from Kaua'i, and found no significant impact.

The agency will accept written comments and requests for a copy of the document through Jan. 20 at U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Attention SMDC-EN-V (Thomas M. Craven), P.O. Box 1500, Huntsville, AL, 35807-3801.