Fort Greely, Alaska: The US military will test its missile defence system on Thursday, the fullest demonstration since a pair of tests grounded the programme 18 months ago. Military officials sought to lower expectations, though. Although a target missile will be fired from Kodiak Island, Alaska, and an interceptor rocket topped with a "kill vehicle" will launch from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, both military and industry officials say they are not actually trying to shoot down the missile. "We are not going to try to hit the target," said Scott Fancher, head of Boeing Corp's ground-based missile defence programme. "It is not a primary or secondary test objective to hit the target."After a tour of the missile interceptor silos on Sunday, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that although he wanted to see a "full end-to-end test,'' he was patient and rejected suggestions that the system should try to hit the target this time. "Why not proceed in an orderly way with the kind of the test expert people want to do?" Rumsfeld told reporters. "They do not have to do it to demonstrate to you."