October 6, 1998
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) and the U.S. Army have announced that the next flight test of the THAAD system is expected to take place during the first quarter of Calendar Year 1999.

On Sept. 18, 1998, the possible delay of the next flight test of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system was announced due to a concern involving a component on the missile's seeker. In subsequent analysis Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space Company, Sunnyvale, Calif., determined a need to delay the flight test for approximately three months to allow replacement of the parts and checkout in ground testing. Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space Co. is the prime contractor for the THAAD missile system.

Contamination was discovered in the operational amplifier (OpAmp) during extensive ground testing by the prime contractor. The OpAmp is a small device in the missile's flight seeker which, if contaminated, could cause a short circuit resulting in seeker failure. The contamination was found to exist in several of the OpAmps of a particular lot. The seeker is being developed by Lockheed Martin Infrared Imaging Systems (LMIRIS) of Lexington, Mass.

On Oct 2nd US Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera visited the Air Defense Artillery Center for an overview of the new role of the Army Missile Defense Command and a briefing on the Theater High Altitude Area Defense system. He also spoke at several functions, including Fort Bliss' Hispanic Heritage observance.

Caldera met with soldiers of a THAAD battery and talked about the importance of this new air defense technology.

"I want to take a moment to underscore my tremendous support for THAAD," Caldera said. "If we had THAAD available today we would deploy it to protect our forces in Korea and everywhere else. We would send them throughout the world. With the missile launches that have happened in Pakistan, Korea and China, it becomes more important than ever that we be able to provide that kind of protection to our soldiers in the field."

Caldera praised the soldiers assigned to the THAAD system.

"The soldiers I visited today are ready to put it in the field," Caldera said. "They are trained and ready to use it."

Caldera also counseled patience with the development problems THAAD has faced.

"While there have been some failures as we go about this, remember there were failures when the Wright brothers first tried to put an aircraft into the air," Caldera said. "There were failures when we first tried to put men on the moon. The thing you have to do is learn from those mistakes, go back and improve constantly."

Caldera attributed some of the problems to a pressing need for the THAAD system that had greatly accelerated its development, thus cutting down on the time available for the normal testing new weapon systems go through.