The Bush administration's effort to build a missile defense system suffered another embarrassing setback on Monday when an interceptor missile failed to launch during a test, the second failure in less than two months.

Pentagon officials said the cause of the failure was under investigation, but early indications showed a malfunction of the ground support equipment, instead of problems with the missile, was to be blamed.

In the test, a mock ballistic missile was fired from Kodiak Island, Alaska. But the interceptor missile supposed to shoot down the target missile did not take off from Kwajalein Island in the Pacific Ocean, the Pentagon said.

This was the second test failure since Dec. 15, when the first flight test of the system in two years was aborted because the interceptor missile failed to launch. Pentagon officials said a software anomaly prompted the automatic shutdown of the launch sequence in the Dec. 15 test.

The failures would certainly give new fuel to critics who say the missile defense system was too expensive and its reliability not proven.

The Bush administration had been expected to declare a rudimentary defense system operational in last fall, but the Pentagon has not done so. An initial set of six interceptors had been installed at Fort Greely, Alaska and two at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

The missile defense system faces budget cut as the Bush administration decided to reduce the record high budget deficit.

Bush proposes to spend 7.8 billion dollars on the missile defense system in his 2006 budget, down from 9.1 billion for 2005.

Source: Xinhua