US revamping Boeing missile defence contract

[WASHINGTON] The Pentagon is restructuring a US$3.48 billion contract with Boeing Co for management of the troubled US homeland missile defence programme, said two sources familiar with the situation.

The system, which faced a critical test yesterday, has failed to hit a dummy missile in five of eight tests since the Bush administration rushed to deploy the system in 2004 to counter growing threats by North Korea. It has not hit a target since 2008.

Another miss could put the brakes on plans by the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to spend billions of dollars to improve the Boeing-led Ground-based Midcourse Defense system (GMD), and add 14 more interceptors to the 30 already in the ground in Alaska and California.