David Willman, L.A. Times: The Pentagon’s $10-billion bet gone bad
Trying to fashion a shield against a sneak missile attack, military planners gambled on costly projects that flopped, leaving a hole in U.S. homeland defense.
Leaders of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency were effusive about the new technology.
It was the most powerful radar of its kind in the world, they told Congress. So powerful it could detect a baseball over San Francisco from the other side of the country.
If North Korea launched a sneak attack, the Sea-Based X-Band Radar — SBX for short — would spot the incoming missiles, track them through space and guide U.S. rocket-interceptors to destroy them.
Crucially, the system would be able to distinguish between actual missiles and decoys.
SBX “represents a capability that is unmatched,” the director of the Missile Defense Agency told a Senate subcommittee in 2007.
In reality, the giant floating radar has been a $2.2-billion flop, a Los Angeles Times investigation found.
More News On The Pentagon's $10 Billion Expenditure On Missile Defense
Lawmakers pushed to keep troubled defense programs alive -- David Willman, L.A. Times
$10 bln down the drain? US spends billions on 'ineffective' missile defense systems -- RT
Missile Research Misfires: How the US Spent $10 Bln on Doomed Defense Plans -- Sputnik
How Safe Are We? $10 Billion Of Your Money Wasted On Failed Defense Projects -- Inquisitr
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