Successful Dual Launch and Intercept by Spartan Missiles, Various Locations

Description

DEPARTMENT OF NEWSFILM RELEASE OFFICE OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (PUBLIC AFFAIRS) INITED STATES OF AMERICA WASHINGTON, D.C. - 20301 PLEASE NOTE DATE IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 18, 1971 OXford 76161 Number 16-71 Footage: 86' 16mm Color Master Room 2E 773 Time: 2:24 SUCCESSFUL DUAL LAUNCH AND INTERCEPT BY SPARTAN MISSILES (Official U. S. Army Film Released by the Department of Defense) Two Spartan missiles, launched seconds apart and both controlled by a single Missile Site Radar (MSR), successfully intercepted targets high over the Pacific Ocean on January 11. These launches, part of continuing Safeguard ABM System tests at the Kwajalein Range, marked the first time that two interceptors have been launched in a single test. One of the Spartans intercepted an ICBM nosecone which had been launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, 4,200 miles distant from Meck Island where the Spartans were launched and where the MSR is located. The second Spartan's target was a predetermined fixed space point. Both interceptor missiles passed close enough to their targets, as verified by range instrumentation, to have destroyed them if armed with operational nuclear warheads. Neither of the Spartan missiles or the target nosecone carried explosives. The MSR and the associated data processor which guided the interceptors are research and development versions of equipment planned for use in Safeguard sites now under construction. The successful test followed by less than three weeks a successful first intercept of a target nosecone by the SPRINT missile. The Spartan, which has a range of several hundred miles, intercepts targets in space while the shorter range SPRINT intercepts within the atmosphere. This was the ninth Safeguard Test utilizing various combinations of the MSR, its associated data processor and interceptor missiles. The film shows the launch of the Spartan missiles and the actual intercept of both the predetermined fixed space point and the ICBM nosecone as seen by monitors at the Missile Site Radar facility on Meck Island. SEQUENCES FOOTAGE VIDEO 6 (a) Aerial view of Meck Island, Kwajalein Atoll 10 (b) Aerial view of Missile Site Radar, Meck Island - MORE -

Collection

Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer

Series

Filmed News Releases