Expansion of ground-based interceptor system to protect Washington, D.C., and possibly other command centers.

The episode begins with an important test where all of the technical systems work but the interceptor system misses the target missile--by 137 miles.

Construction of the interceptor system required 318 million bricks, 2.7 million cubic metres of excavated earth and 670,000 cubic metres of concrete.

By all accounts, the space-based rockets, called kinetic kill vehicles, would be the most difficult element, technically, of the interceptor system.

A number of businesses offer interceptor systems to separate oil and water in the drainage system.

Waste oil and sludge such as that removed from tank bottoms, filters and interceptor systems at duty-suspended warehouses, remains liable to excise duty.

The Armed Services Committee requires that the the interceptor system it proposes be kept well below that mandated in the treaty.

The Bush administration spent $700 million in the 2004 fiscal year and has requested more than $1 billion in 2005 to develop the sea-based interceptor system, which would be deployed on American cruisers, as well.

In March 2006, China tested an interceptor system comparable to the U.S. Patriot missiles.

In addition, the Defense Department will be required to report to Congress within the next two weeks on its plans for the space-based interceptor system over the next year.