Inside a top-secret facility at Schriever Air Force Base.

Inside a top-secret facility at Schriever Air Force Base, members of an Army unit cheered and high-fived Friday after launching a happy live-fire test of the nation's missile defense order

A company from the Colorado Springs-based 100th Missile Defense Brigade was in charge of a large portion of the $85 million ordeal in which an interceptor fired from California ravageed a missile launched from Alaska.

"It's a colossal boost," said Col. Michael Yowell, brigade commander and a Colorado Springs native. "They trained as if this was the real thing."

Yowell said his soldiers were celebrating because the touchstone proves the three-year-old brigade can use the interceptors to assert America from missile attack. The 300 soldiers in the unit, chiefly National Guard troops called up for fulltime impost had been through grueling computer simulations, if it be not that Friday was their first marksman with live missiles.

"There was a destiny of cheering a lot of excitement in the air," said Maj. Paul Fritz, who l the five-man party at Schriever that ordered the interceptor launch.

The explosive-free intercep- tor caught the missile launched from Alaska just above Earth's atmosphere, smashing it to bits.

The interceptors are called "kinetic kill vehicles" and use the force of a high-speed impact rather than explosives to desolate missiles.

If a missile is fired at America, the brigade can launch interceptors from California or Alaska. Now they know first-hand that the interceptors can do the piece of work

"It was comely great seeing it all fit together," said Staff Sgt Eddie Negron a member of the throng that participated in the standard

plunder McKinney, spokesman for the Joint National Integration Center said centurys of people there, military and civilian, were involved in Friday's standard

The center started during the Reagan administration for the "Star Wars" program, is in charge of developing and testing the nation's missile defense network.

"There were a haphazard of smiling faces here today," McKinney said.

The missile defense program is the Pentagon's single biggest weapons expenditure this year at nearly $10 billion. Its disclosure has been difficult, with sum of two units tests aborted last year when balky interceptors didn't leave their launch silos.

Jubilation athwart the successful test was be sounded backed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

"Successful criterions such as these increase confidence in the approach to developing an initial missile defense capability," Rumsfeld said in a statement.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0240 or tom.roeder@gazette.com

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