Iran Upgrading Range of Shahab-3
February 25, 2004 :: Middle East Newsline :: News
Iran’s highly effective Shahab-3 will not only be marketed to other countries such as Syria, but will also be undergoing some significant enhancments to extend its range. The Shahab-3 currently reaches some 1,300km, but the improvements could extend that to 1,600km, according to the Middle East Newsline. The upgrades would, it is reported, substitute for Iran’s Shahab-4 development program. However, there are already indications that a form of the Shahab-4 has already been deployed and put into service in 2003. (Article, Link)
» Shahab-3 details
» Shahab-4 details
» More stories on: Iran, Proliferation, Technology
» Missile details: Shahab-6, Small ICBM
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
Polish-US Missile Cooperation
January 28, 2004 :: SpaceDaily :: News
The future of missile defense continues to gain strength internationally. Lockheed Martin and the Polish firm, Telecommunication Industrial Institute (PIT), today signed a letter of intent pledging cooperation in missile defense-related radar technology. The significance of such contracts is that Europe, long reluctant to missile defense because it was more comfortable being protected by the US nuclear arsenal, is coming around to both the need to defend itself and the importance of missile defense in a world of wide proliferation.
Update: The February 11 edition of Jane’s Defence Weekly noted that this agreement involves lesser, tactical, programs, than a more comprehensive one with Boeing which previously stalled. (Article, Link)
» Lockheed Martin press release
» More stories on: Allies, Policy, Technology
Third Test Flight of GMD Missile Booster a Success
January 27, 2004 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
Yesterday’s test of a new booster rocket for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system was a success. The test, Integrated Flight Test-13b, began with an Orbital booster rocket lifting off from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific, and then traveling to a simulated intercept point some 800 miles downrange and at an approximate altitude of 170 miles. No intercept was attempted, although a target missile and a kill vehicle were simulated. The successful test follows another held on January 9. (More »»»)
» MDA Booster Rocket Program press release, noting “dual-booster strategy” for rocket acquisition
» Orbital press release
» Jan. 9, 2003: Lockheed Booster Test
» Oct. 25, 2003: First missile defense brigade activated, in Colorado
» More stories on: Land-Based Systems, Technology, Testing - American
» Missile system details for: Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD)
Successful Test-Launch of GMD Booster
January 9, 2004 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
The MDA today conducted a simple booster verification test launch of the three stage Lockheed Martin booster, Booster Verification Test-5, which is to be used for the Ground-Based Midcourse defense system to be deployed this year in Alaska and California.
A second booster for the GMD system is being built by the Orbital company, which is owned by Boeing. (Article, Link)
» Photo of booster launch
» More stories on: Land-Based Systems, Technology, Testing - American
» Missile system details for: Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD)
Israel Develops Super Laser
December 30, 2003 :: Israel National News :: News
The Ben Gurion University in Israel has apparently developed what is being called a super chemical laser, far more efficient and powerful than previous models. The Chemical Oxygen-Iodine Laser is touted as having beaten similar programs in other countries for its efficency and, perhaps most importantly, its small size. The Ben Gurion model uses nitrogen as a dilutent, rather than helium, as does other chemical lasers.
Significant improvements in laser technology would be a significant boost to missile defense programs in general. Lasers are of particular importance due to their speed in interception, which easily overcomes the speed of ballistic missiles and permits boost phase interception, when missiles are most vulnerable. Laser advances would benefit not only to Israeli anti-missile programs such as Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), but the U.S. Air Borne Laser (ABL) program as well, not to mention better space-based laser programs yet to be developed. The laser of the ABL, for example, takes up the majority of a Boeing 747. (Article, Link)
» Air Borne Laser program description
» More stories on: Space-Based Systems, Technology
» Missile system details for: Airborne Laser (ABL), Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)
China’s Laser Weapons Possible Threat to Taiwan
December 22, 2003 :: Taipei Times :: News
China may have a laser weapon, similar in concept to the United States’ air-borne laser (ABL), which they can and may be deploying near Taiwan, in addition to their buildup of short range ballistic missiles.
The Taipei Times cites Taiwanese defense sources that the laser cannon, with a range over 100km—again, comparable to the ABL—has been deployed in Fujian Province facing Taiwan, and that it could be used to disable military command and control systems. One defense official, however, noted that the cannon may only still be in development: “We tend to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. We would rather believe that China has already developed such a weapon and that we should start making preparations as soon as possible.” The Times notes that the United States and Israel have developed laser weapons—the ABL and the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)—but these are used as anti-missile defense systems. It is, however, plausible that the Chinese system is designed to have an anti-missile defense capability. (Article, Link)
» June 7, 2000: First THEL intercept
» More stories on: China, Taiwan, Technology
» Missile system details for: Airborne Laser (ABL), Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)
Israel Arrow 2 Intercept Exceeds Expectations
December 16, 2003 :: Jane's Information Group :: News
On December 16, the Israel Air Force conducted the eleventh firing of the Arrow 2 ballistic missile interceptor, the sixth test of the complete Arrow Weapon System, including an interception. The successful intercept test was described as exceeding expectations, according to the December 30 edition of Janes Defense Weekly.
The test took place with the interceptor launched from the Palmachim air force base. The Arrow missile intercepted a Rafael Armament Development Authority Black Sparrow target missile which had been dropped by an Israel F-15 aircraft and made to simulate a medium-range ballistic missile.
The test, said one Israeli official, confirmed that the system “almost doubled the interception altitude of the Arrow,” making them useful against such longer range threats as Iran’s Shahab MRBM. “This was the most complex Arrow test we ever conducted and the results were even beyond our expectations,” the source said. Plans for future tests include the interception of an actual SCUD MRBM in 2004, to take place in the United States. The US Missile Defense Agency co-manages the Arrow program. (Article, Link)
» Jan. 17: China Daily: U.S. to increase production of Israeli Arrow Interceptor
» JINSA: Another Arrow Success
» More stories on: Allies, Technology, Testing - Foreign
» Missile system details for: Arrow
Aegis Missile Defense Test Successful
December 11, 2003 :: Department of Defense :: News
The Missile Defense Agency and the Navy today conducted the fourth test of the Aegis sea-based missile defense system, which was a success. The test involved the launch of a short range target missile from Kauai, Hawaii. Some two minutes later, a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptor was launched from the USS Lake Erie Aegis cruiser. Two minutes after this, the SM-3 intercepted and destroyed the target missile with its own kinetic force.
Before the USS Lake Erie launched its SM-3 missile, however, it received additional tracking information conveyed from another Aegis destroyer, the USS Russell, located near the island of Kauai, to serve as a test of coordinating multiple sources of tracking information.
After being put onto the right course by the SM-3 missile, the kinetic warhead tracked and closed upon the target missile, finally impacting it at an altitude of 137 km and at a closing speed of some 3.7 km/sec.
The Aegis system is one of the many “hit to kill” technologies which demonstrates time and again it is indeed possible to “hit a bullet with a bullet.” The sea-based system is but one important part of the layered defense necessary to protect the United States.
Update: The director of the Pentagon’s Office of Operational Test and Evaluation, Thomas Christie, told Inside the Pentagon in a December 15 interview that the Aegis Test was a “success.”
“It showed you can…pick up the [enemy] missile after it was launched, with the destroyer passing information to the cruiser, which had the Standard Missile-3 intercept the target,” the Pentagon’s top test official noted.
Christie also said the intercept gave the Pentagon confidence in its plan for a layered missile defense system that utilizes different components at different stages of the operation. (Article, Link)
» Picture of missile launch
» More stories on: Sea-Based Systems, Technology, Testing - American
» Missile system details for: Aegis Ship-Based BMD
Russia Continues Missile Testing
December 5, 2003 :: Newsday :: News
Russia today test-launched its third long-range ballistic missile since September. An SS-19 (Russian desgnation RS-18) was launched from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. An important component of Russia’s strategic arsenal, the SS-19 “Stiletto” has two main modifications, with a payload of up to 4,350 kg and a range of 10,000 km.
News commentators on the launch have been emphasizing the missile’s possible use as a satellite launch vehicle, or SLV. This particular missile was apparently a Strela (“Arrow”) modification, Russian spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Igor Zatula said, used to “launch a dummy satellite” into low orbit. But one should hesitiate to assign merely “commerical” motives to such tests: to say, as Reuters does for example, that the purpose is for “providing satellites for phone networks and television broadcasters in countries it once targeted.”
The military aspect of this launch, to maintain Russia’s ability to target countries with its nuclear weapons, is perhaps the more important point to understand. As Zatula also noted, Russia’s defense ministry used this particular launch to verify the missiles were fit for combat duty. According to the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass, the test is part of a project to extend the SS-19’s service life to 25 years. The service life of the SS-19 was previously estimated at 21 years, the limit of which many are now approaching. Russia continues an active testing program for a variety of its ballistic missiles; most recently with an SLBM test launch.
What is not mentioned in the brief reports by Reuters and others is the relation of this test to the roughly 150 SS-19s recently acquired from the Ukraine in July. The purpose of these missiles was not merely to be used for launching satellites—a reference to SLV capacity is a common means to distract attention from missiles’ military value. In October, Putin ordered the transfer of the 150 SS-19s to combat duty to replace aging SS-18s: at the time, he commented: “I am speaking here about the most menacing missiles, of which we have dozens, with hundreds of warheads.” (Article, Link)
» July 28, 2003: Ukraine sells 150 more ICBMs to Russia
» October 3, 2003: Putin Orders SS-19 Buildup
» October 15, 2003: Russia Tests Another SLBM
» More stories on: Russia, Technology, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-21 A, SS-21 B
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