August 4, 2004 :: Analysis
Richard C. Barnard, editor of Sea Power, discusses in the most recent issue of the publication the future of the Kinetic Energy Interceptor as a “multipurpose” missile defense weapon—for use in not only the boost or ascent phase, but the midcourse phase as well. While the KEI was initially sold as a boost phase interceptor, it is now considering midcourse interception. Whereas boost phase interception would require extremely high speeds to “catch up” with a missile in a very short span of time, an interception in midcourse gives a longer span of time, allowing the same missile to proceed at a slower pace, thus also extending its range.
As a midcourse phase interceptor, the KEI could possibly be based aboard submarines or Aegis cruisers, though such possibilities would probably not be feasible until several years after the 2010 scheduled feasibility for the land based version. Barnard cites Terry Little, the KEI program director, as saying that a single battery of ten KEI interceptors stationed in Italy could, as a midcourse interceptor, protect all of Western Europe, and that another battery based in Norfolk Virginia could defend the entire East Coast from a ship-launched missile, launched between 300 and 1,500 kilometers offshore. Little admitted, however, that the land-based version would be incapable of destroying a missile from a larger country—such as Russia or China—in its boost phase, and that to do so would require a space based laser. (Article)
» Missile system details for: Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI)
