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US denies missile test report
The US defence department has denied that the military, during a joint defence exercise with Saudi Arabia, test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads.Jonathan Withington, a Pentagon spokesman, said on Wednesday that there was no launch of Trident or any other missile during the exercise, which began last week. The denials came after wire services reported quoting an unnamed Western military official in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday that a Trident missile was launched out of the kingdom. The official also said that Lieutenant-General Patrick O'Reilly, director of the Pentagon's Missile Defence Agency, attended the test launch. The Pentagon confirmed that while O'Reilly was in the region last week, he did not attend a missile launch. Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, discussed strengthening Saudi air and missile defence capabilities during a visit to the kingdom in March. This was part of a broader US effort to boost security in the Gulf in the face of Iran's expanding arsenal of ballistic missiles. Posted by: john frum 2010-04-01 |
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