THAAD Missile Defense Test Scheduled For Tonight
Na Pali Cliffs, Kauai
Ok Dollard readers…I grew up on Kauai, and way far away on the west side is the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands. They took us there in the 7th grade for a field trip, lousy food. One thing’s for sure, however, they track the Pacific, and only God and the US DoD know exactly what is beyond the end of the road. We were always told in school (Cold War) that they would nuke us to darken the Pacific. Duck and Cover, bitches.
See, just imagine Kauai as a clock. Between 8:00 and 12:00 there are no public roads. You’ve seen this area known as the Na Pali Cliffs area in lots of Hollywood films like Jurassic Park, King Kong (the Jessica lange one), Raiders of the Lost Ark, etc etc. Its those tall, sheer, dark green cliffs.
Many places between 8 and 12 where people cannot go.
I said all of that to say, I check the Garden Island Newspaper online everyday, just to see who died and who got busted, and this morning I found this…one thing I have to chuckle at, which I think is kind of cool, they have guys come out and “bless” the missiles. They like to “bless” everything on Kauai, its traditional. They throw water and salt on it, wave some Ti leaves around, and then get drunk.
~Bash
PMRF Barking Sands, MANA-Spiritual leader Tom Takahashi knows that tonight’s scheduled test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system will be a success.
After spending an hour yesterday observing the target and interceptor to be used in the test, Takahashi offered a blessing — a tradition begun more than a decade ago — and said he was sure that things would go smoothly.
“They put the words in my mouth and in my head,” Takahashi said of the missiles, which he named Ku‘uipo, or sweetheart, and Kekai o ke kai, boy from the sea.
Takahashi shared this with a crowd of more than 100, including military and international officials, during the blessing ceremony at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. If successful, as Takahashi predicts, the launch will conclude the first phase of THAAD testing, all interceptions of unitary targets. Tom McGrath, THAAD vice president and program manager for Lockheed Martin, called the anticipated completion a “major milestone.”
This is the third THAAD test on Kaua‘i this year and the eighth overall. There will be a total of 14 tests completed by 2010, when THAAD is fully fielded, Missile Defense Agency spokeswoman Pam Rogers said.
As one of many layers of defense against attacks, THAAD specializes in land-based interception of ballistic missiles during the terminal phase of flight. THAAD complements the mobile Patriot missile system, which is used to intercept in lower altitudes. The sea-based Aegis system provides longer-range interception of missiles at their highest point.
Army Col. William Lamb, THAAD program manager, said the testing is “phenomenally important.”
“It’s a demonstration of how well the system is doing and how well it’s performing in all phases of development,” Lamb said.
In addition, Lamb noted that the event’s international guests from United Arab Emirates, Israel and Australia are an indication of how far the program has come.
According to Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance President Riki Ellison, THAAD is appealing to many countries that might not be able to deploy an Aegis-equipped ship, yet need broader protection than the Patriot can provide.
This year, the THAAD program was relocated to Kaua‘i from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The former site offered a testing area the size of Connecticut, while Kaua‘i’s testing area is the size of the entire Western U.S., Rogers said.
Each test brings anywhere from 300 to 600 people to Kaua‘i for an average of three weeks. These surges pump an estimated $3 million into the local economy in the form of accommodations, rental cars, gas and food purchases, said PMRF spokesman Tom Clements.
There are about six to eight such Aegis and THAAD events each year. Clements said that schedule should hold steady for a few years, as it represents a full schedule.
Blake Jones for The Garden Island.
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this place sound beautiful
http://www.hawaiiweb.com/kauai/sites_to_see/default.htm
do the people there share the same language as in Polynesian islands ?
ex : someone tired = “fiu”
October 24th, 2007 at 9:36 am@franchie…
No, the native Hawaiians, who make up less than 2% of the population of Hawaii had their own language.
What is spoken in Hawaii is what is known as “Pidgin English” it is a broken form of English.
For example:
English: Hey Man, How are you?
Pidgin: Eh brah, howzit?
There is a deep underlying hostility towards white people, whom they call Haole (how-lee), akin to white people’s attitudes towards blacks in the deep south in the 30’s & 40’s.
October 24th, 2007 at 9:44 amthanks,
I don’t know much of this place,
October 24th, 2007 at 10:09 amseems we have the same problems in Tahiti going on now and more in Noumea, especially since our army left, no more jobs or businesses, they get RMI allocations for their everyday life and don’t bother to fish anymore and are jalous of the metis (mostly of chinese origin)
Same same in the Marianas with the haole bit.
October 24th, 2007 at 11:10 amAh yes THAAD…typically it was to grow into an intercept missle and react like the kind of missle’s in the Roadrunner cartoons…multiple mini rocket boosters for quick guidance and turbo speed for correction…and if it missed, would turn around and chase the incoming missile
very high tech hybrid and non escapable, but I think for todays war head it breaks down into multiple smaller rockets to intercept multiple incoming rockets or it will gang-chase 1
October 24th, 2007 at 5:36 pmhttp://www.mda.mil/mdaLink/pdf/thaad.pdf
October 25th, 2007 at 3:57 am