Blimps Considered for Layered BMD Architecture
October 22, 2003 :: MSNBC :: News
The MDA recently awarded a 40 million dollar contract to Lockheed to design solar-powered blimps which would be a part of a layered missile defense architecture. Some twenty-five times larger than those used by Goodyear, the umanned blimps with a payload capacity of two tons would remain at high altitude (65,000 ft) for up to several months at a time, for the purposes of identifying and tracking any missile launch. A prototype is expected to be completed in 2006.
Innovative efforts such as these should of course be encouraged. Serious strategic defenses demand a layered system, and air-based systems such as sensors and the air-borne laser (ABL)—both designed to complement a boost-phase interception, when the missile is the most vulnerable, should be given a role within such a system. While this sort of tracking system has certain unique mobility advantages, however, it also seems to be something of a half-hearted effort, one which works within the mainstream aversion to space-based defenses. Similar tracking systems placed in orbit would of course have a greater field of view than any craft at high altitude, and orbiting lasers would be able to intercept missiles much earlier in their ascent. Space-based defenses would also be much less susceptible to conventional attack. Similarly, the air-borne laser also has range limitations of several hundred kilometers, a distance far shorter than most ballistic missile’s paths. These systems, to be effective, would certainly have to be in the right place at the right time, and progress in these directions should not distract from the need for space-based defenses. (Article, Link)
» Former Director of SDIO Abrahamson assisting in ambitious blimp program
» More stories on: Air, Technology, Testing - American
Scientists Issue Report on Boost Phase Systems
July 16, 2003 :: Washington Post :: News
Scientists with the American Physical Society issue a report on the technological limitations of systems such as the air-borne laser to effectively intercept missiles during their most vulnerable stage of flight, the boost phase. This report points to the admitted problems of such half-hearted systems such as the ABL which has a very limited range, while ignoring the potential and desirable solution of space-based lasers. (Article, Link)
» American Physical Society Boost Phase Report
» Scientist Richard Garwin disputes APS report’s contention boost phase missile defense is impractical
» More stories on: Air, Policy, Space-Based Systems, Technology
» Missile system details for: Airborne Laser (ABL)
Popular Science: Dawn of the Air Borne Laser
March 1, 2003 :: Popular Science :: News
Popular Science magazine presents an inside-look at the Air-Borne Laser missile defense system.
Here’s how it will happen: Six infrared sensors positioned on the fuselage will constantly scan all directions for hot missile exhaust plumes, which they can do autonomously or at the prompt of launch-detecting satellites. When one, or several, is located, the ABL’s multiple separate lasers will swing into action—-all within seconds. A laser ranging pod atop the plane’s cockpit, right now almost four stories above us as we stand on the ground, will spin around to face the first missile—-the one the computer has determined is most threatening —-and measure its distance with a carbon dioxide laser. The track illuminator laser, fired through the 12-inch aperture of the Wall of Fire and into the nose turret, will compensate for aircraft vibration and then pinpoint a specific area of the missile to aim at. The beacon illuminator laser, also fired through the nose turret, where a cassegrain reflector telescope expands the beam’s dimensions to 1.5 meters, will then use the beam-and fire- control unit’s adaptive optics to characterize the missile’s dimensions. (These optics, standard equipment on all the ABL’s turret-fired lasers, extend their range with mirror-flexing technology to compensate for atmospheric turbulence.) Finally, the computer will fire the high-energy laser, which will focus down from 1.5 meters in diameter to a much smaller spot of light by the time it reaches the target. As the laser dwells on the missile’s flank for 2 or 3 seconds, the oxidizer or fuel tank will rupture and the missile will explode.
The article quotes Ted Postel, longtime opponent of missile defenses, with some interesting observations about the ABL:
Others think the laser itself will work but could fail in its prime mission; in other words, that the ABL may be better suited for attacking long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles and satellites than short-range weapons that operate within relatively compact geographic areas. “Theater ballistic missiles have shorter-powered flight time at lower altitudes where the atmosphere is denser,” says Ted Postol, a professor of science, technology and national security policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Going against an ICBM would be easier because the missile undergoes longer-powered flight, and the intercept would occur in less atmosphere.”
Postel’s observation is interesting for the following reason: he points out the weaknesses of the ABL—incidentally begun under the Clinton administration as an excuse for not doing more serious missile defenses—and in so doing makes the case for other systems which would be more effective. Longer range ICBMs are indeed more vulnerable than shorter theater ballistic missiles, but for this very reason a space based laser would make additional sense. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Air, Policy, Technology
» Missile system details for: Airborne Laser (ABL)
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