The Nation - News from Oct. 1, 1986

The Air Force successfully tested the infrared guidance system on its anti-satellite missile during a flight over the Pacific off the California coast. The anti-satellite, or ASAT, weapon successfully “used the energy source of a distant star as the ‘target,’ ” a Pentagon statement said. The missile was fired from an F-15 jet fighter over the Western Test Range near Vandenberg Air Force Base, the Pentagon said. It was the fifth “live fire” test of the weapon in two years and the second in as many months.