Despite a new delay in testing, the Pentagon said Tuesday it still will be able to tell President Clinton this summer whether its anti-missile system is technically ready to be deployed. Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, told a Pentagon news conference that the next test of the anti-missile system will be June 26, two months later than originally planned. The delay gives the Pentagon time to fix a problem that caused a January test to fail. An assessment now will be done in July, Kadish said. The June test will cost about $100 million. The July review will still leave Clinton time to decide, by October or November, whether to proceed with deployment. Congress has required the Pentagon to deploy a national defense against long-range missiles as soon as technically feasible.
