Son of Star Wars deployed in Alaska

THE US is preparing to install a ground-based interceptor in Alaska’s interior - the first component of a national defence system designed to shoot down enemy missiles.

Crews at Fort Greely prepared to lower the 17-meter-long, three-stage interceptor into one of six silos built behind a double perimeter fence reinforced by heavy barbed wire.

“We’re coming to the end of an era where we have not been able to defend our country against long-range ballistic missile attacks,” said Major General John Holly, who heads the ground-based missile defence programme for the Pentagon’s Missile Defence Agency.