US Army Meets Skynet: Computer Pulls the Plug on Artillery Test

The test was aimed at determining noise levels in communities located close to JBLM, a training and mobilization center located to the south of Tacoma. This is where the Army wants to conduct HIMARS training from now on. For the time being, the drills take place at the Yakima Training Center in central Washington.

Approximately one acre of trees was chopped down to prepare the firing site for the three-day exercise, but apparently that was not enough.

"During the rehearsal the HIMARS fire control computer indicated that more (tree) clearance may be needed to ensure the rockets could be fired safely and accurately," the JBLM public affairs office said in a statement.

The experts at the site are trying to determine whether similar tests could be conducted at all, but no decision has been made at this point. If given the go ahead, the drills will be launched on March 22 at the earliest.

There could be an additional challenge. The Nisqually tribe is largely opposed to the HIMARS tests at JBLM unless a comprehensive environmental study is conducted. They also worry that noise levels during tests will be unbearable.

For this reason, the tribe is said to have decided to send its children and the elders away to a retreat and day care for the duration of the scheduled test, spending an estimated $76,000. Tribal chairman Farron McCloud is convinced that JBLM is supposed to cover the expenditures now, the News Tribune reported.