Missile-Interceptor Test Postponed

BETHESDA, Md. — The Defense Department’s seventh test of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s troubled missile-interceptor system was postponed Tuesday because of problems with the surrogate enemy missile, the Pentagon said.

The test was to have occurred at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico Tuesday morning. No date was set for another try, an official said.

The Theater High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, interceptor missile failed in a test in late March, flying past its target. Lockheed Martin paid a $15-million penalty to the government for that failure.

“In this case, the target failed,” said Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon. “The target, which was a Hera rocket, was supposed to, at a certain point in its flight path, turn down. Instead, it began to tumble chaotically out of control,” Bacon said. The Hera is a modified Minuteman II missile made by Coleman Research Corp. and Aerotherm Corp.

Lockheed Martin isn’t culpable for the target problem, said Air Force Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles, director of the Pentagon’s Ballistic Missile Defense Organization.