North Korean launches put US missile defense system to test

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2006

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US missile defense system was put to its first real test with North Korea's launch of a long-range missile and a half dozen shorter range missiles.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he was on and off the phone with top US commanders almost continuous for days before the missile tests.

"I received the notification of the launch of these missiles probably within of a minute of when they occurred," he told reporters before a meeting with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Pentagon officials were circumspect, though, about how the multi-billion dollar missile defense system performed.

"What I will tell you is that each and every launch was detected and monitored, and that interceptors were operational during the...