Prototype High Altitude Airship Proceeding
June 22, 2005 :: Inside Defense :: News
The Pentagon has decided to build and demonstrate a prototype of its High Altitude Airship (HAA), reports Defense Daily. As envisioned, the HAA is a 500-foot-long, unmanned, radar-carrying surveillance blimp designed to detect and track incoming ballistic missiles as they approach U.S. coastal regions. The blimp would hover above the jet stream at an altitude of 20 km for months at a time. In particular, it would have the ability to detect low-flying missiles that could slip underneath ground-based radars. A flight test of the prototype HAA is proposed for FY 2008. (Link)
» More stories on: Air
» Missile system details for: High Altitude Airship (Blimp)
Possible Role for Fighters in Missile Defense
May 11, 2005 :: Inside Defense :: News
The Missile Defense Agency and the Navy are studying means of defending ships against short range ballistic missiles, which includes a number a new basing options for previously ground-based interceptors such as THAAD and Patriot, reports the May 10 edition of Inside Missile Defense. A working group’s report, “Sea-Based Terminal Ballistic Missile Defense Assessment,” is said to be due in June.
The plan for a “sea-based terminal defense” considers the possibilities for development and fielding around 2010. Besides arming fighter aircraft with modified PAC-3 or even the longer range THAAD interceptors, “marinized” versions of both could plausibly also be placed on ships, according to various sources cited. The Aegis ship-based defenses would also likely be incorporated into any sea-based defense for ships.
The aircraft-launched versions would be of use for defense against ballistic or cruise missile attacks against our coast, provided of course the fighters were in the right place at the right time, within range of the missile: “In theory,” a source quoted said, “you could put two THAADs on an F-15.”
The reports are similar in concept to the jet fighter-based Anti-Satellite Weapons or Boost Phase Interceptors (BPI) discussed in previous years. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Air, Sea-Based Systems
» Missile system details for: Boost Phase Interceptor (BPI), Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3), Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
ABL Flight Test Continuation
December 13, 2004 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
Continuing December 3 flight test which was cut short, Missile Defense Agency again flight tested the Airborne Laser (ABL) aircraft, this time for flew 2 and a half hours. The shorter duration of the previous test was due to anomalous instrumentation readings, an apparent problem which was quickly solved. This longer flight was again conducted at Edwards Air Force Base. (Link)
» Air Force press release on ABL flight test of Dec. 9
» More stories on: Air
» Missile system details for: Airborne Laser (ABL)
Airborne Laser Undergoes Flight Test
December 4, 2004 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
Yesterday, December 3rd, the Missile Defense Agency conducted a flight test of the Airborne laser, the first such test since December 2002. The flight took place at Edwards Air Force Base in California. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Air, Testing - American
» Missile system details for: Airborne Laser (ABL)
Test Fire of Laser for ABL
November 12, 2004 :: LA Times :: News
The Missile Defense agency conducted its first ever demonstration test of the laser weapon which will be used on the developing Airborne Laser (ABL) program, announces Northrop Grumman.
The ground-based test, called “First Light,” took place on November 10 at Edwards Air Force Base, in California, and involved the a simultaneous firing of all six laser modules comprising the Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL), according to the press release. (Article, Link)
» Northrop Grumman press release
» Nov. 1: Northrop Grumman offers laser weapon to army for mortar interception
» MDA release on laser test
» More stories on: Air, High Energy Defenses, Testing - American
» Missile system details for: Airborne Laser (ABL)
Solar Energy for BMD Blimps
May 27, 2004 :: News
The High Altitude Airship, the missile defense blimp being pursued by the Missile Defense Agency, may be the subject of solar energy technology. The MDA has contracted with a solar energy company to research the feasibility to line the airships with thin-film solar photovoltaic cells. Such “solar photovoltaic” technology would allow the airship to maintain aloft and self sufficient for long periods of time. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Air
» Missile system details for: High Altitude Airship (Blimp)
Boeing Gets Additional ABL Contract
May 27, 2004 :: Forbes
Boeing was today awarded a $500 million contract by the Department of Defense, for making improvements to the Airborne Laser. The contract comes some four days after the completion of a ground test at Edwards AFB, California, of the exhaust system for the laser.
Update: Defense News reported that the General Accounting Office issued a statement on May 19 saying the cost of the ABL program has doubled and might be projected to triple. Originally, in 1996, the price tag was set at $1 billion, but is now at $2 billion. An additional $431 to $943 million is likely needed for the program. (Article, Link)
» DoD ABL contract
» More stories on: Air
» Missile system details for: Airborne Laser (ABL)
Possible U.S.-Japan Joint Laser Program
May 13, 2004 :: News
Japanese Defense Agency Director General Shigeru Ishiba suggested to Japan’s the Lower House Emergency Legislation Special Committee that the country should look into a joint study with the United States to develop aircraft-mounted lasers, reports the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. Such a program would likely parallel or be in conjunction with the United States’ current Airborne Laser (ABL) program.
Japan is also looking into a number of other American missile defense programs, including Patriot, the Aegis sea-based SM-3 missile, and land-based missile radars. It has been suggested that Japan may begin deploying defenses by 2006. (Link)
» More stories on: Air, Allies, High Energy Defenses
Israel to Build Airship to Track Missiles
March 4, 2004 :: Washington Times :: News
Precise monitoring and tracking of incoming ballistic missiles is an important element to defend against them. In recent months, the US has begun research on a High Altitude Airship, a necxt-generation blimp, to do just this. Now Israel has followed suit, and begun to develop its own such device. Theirs would be 200 yards long and 60 yards wide, would remain at 70,000 feet above the surface for years, and would be capable of tracking missiles up to 600 miles away. (Link)
» More stories on: Air, Israel, Technology
» Missile system details for: High Altitude Airship (Blimp)
Popular Science: MDA’s Blimps
February 1, 2004 :: Popular Science :: News
The February edition of Popular Science magazine carries an article about the blimps the Missile Defense Agency is considering incorporating into its early warning network, graced with the clever title, “Defense Inflation.”
Inasmuch as the blimps offer reliable stationary platform for tracking missiles, they are useful. But inasmuch as they are a substitute for more advanced space-based systems, they represent a sort of halfway house: a serious attempt to pursue missile defense compromised by irrational aversion to “weaponizing space.” Defensive measures, it must be remembered, are not the concern with weaponizing space: the ballistic missiles themselves, which leave the atmosphere during flight, are by definition “space weapons.” (Article, Link)
» Oct. 22, 2003: Blimps Considered for Layered BMD Architecture
» More stories on: Air, Policy, Technology
 |
| Total Records: 13 |
[1]
2
»
|
