Sea-Based Aegis Intercept Attempt Successful against Ship-Launched Missile
June 5, 2008 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
The Aegis missile defense system today demonstrated a significant capability against the threat of ship-launched ballistic missiles with the successful intercept of a target missile fired not from land but from another ship. The test, designated FTM-14, was the fourteenth successful intercept by the Aegis system in sixteen attempts, and the second successful attempt in the terminal phase, that is, in the last few seconds of the missile's descent, by the SM-2 Block IV interceptor. At 8:13 am local time, the short range target missile was fired from "a mobile launch platform" 300 miles west of the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. The Aegis system aboard the USS Lake Erie detected the missile and fired two interceptors. Two minutes later, the interceptors destroyed the missile some 12 miles above the Pacific Ocean and 100 miles west-northward of Kauai.
The sea-based Aegis system is one of the most robust and successful missile defense systems under development. Its mobile capability makes the sea-based system a major component of an overall layered defense against missile threats. Today's test is doubly significant for the threat posed by ballistic missiles launched against U.S. cities from ships lying off an American coast. Rogue states do not need long- or even medium-range missile capability to pose such a threat. Among others, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has noted that rogue states have in fact tested ballistic missiles from sea-based platforms such as freighters. The ship-launched threat, the so-called "Scud in a bucket" scenario, illustrates a much more immediate threat to the United States and its allies than an ICBM fired against the United States by Iran and North Korea. The range of both Shahab and Taepo-Dong missiles is more than adequate to use against the United States or other countries in such a configuration. (Article, Link)
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Successful Patriot Test
June 4, 2008 :: Raytheon :: News
The latest live-fire test of the Patriot (PAC-3) interceptor was successful, taking place at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, according to a press release by Raytheon. The test did not include an intercept attempt of another missile, but was rather designed to test new software and other equipment. The exercise was the second in a series of tests to evaluate the new interceptor. (Article, Link)
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» Missile system details for: Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3)
General Obering Says U.S. Should Welcome Missile Defense Race
April 24, 2008 :: Analysis
Air Force Lt. Gen. General Obering said on Wednesday that the U.S. should be comfortable in welcoming a global missile defense race. Obering, head of the Missile Defense Agency, has told Senate appropriators that in the absence of such defenses, a race for offensive missiles has already exploding all over the world due to easy access to certain kinds of offensive systems.
According to Obering, the kind of layered defense the U.S. is pursuing through the Bush Administration and allies would likely deter enemies and potential enemies from building arsenals of offensive missiles.
In a hearing on the MDA’s 2009 budget request, Obering confidently told appropriators that if Washington, its NATO allies and countries like Russia could come together to develop and field missile shields around the world, hostile regimes in Tehran and Pyongyang will certainly “think twice about [fielding] offensive missiles,” as history has shown that these sorts of defensive systems are “hard to defeat.”
Obering’s report comes as Pentagon and administration officials are in talks with European allies and Warsaw attempting to come to agreement over a proposal to install roughly one dozen missile interceptors in Poland. Additionally, the U.S. has already reached a preliminary agreement with the Czech Republic to put an advanced radar suite there.
Negotiations with Polish officials halted earlier in the year when a new government took over in Warsaw and made clear that its desire for greater American military and security support before agreeing to host interceptors. More recently, U.S. officials have been optimistic about the prospects of linking a deal with Poland.
Obering told the Senate appropriators that he is hopeful that an accord can be reached “by the end of the year,” which would allow the MDA to begin the competition for the European shield work. The agency hopes to select a contractor soon enough to start work in Europe by the end of next year.
Meanwhile, Obering has reported that the Airborne Laser (ABL) effort, geared towards installing a laser weapon on board a Boeing 747 jet, is scheduled for a missile shoot-down test in mid-2009. Following this test, Obering said, agency officials will apply lessons provided by the test, during a “transition period” during which the agency will “try to figure out how to make the third and fourth planes as affordable as possible.”
With the ABL program progressing, Army Lt. Gen Kevin Campbell, chief of the Army Space and Missile Defense and Army Strategic Forces commands argues that the ground force is in talks with Air Force officials about the latter’s Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW) program. These two bodies are working to integrate certain AHW technologies with the Air Force’s Prompt Global Strike program aimed at fielding a next-generation weapon capable of striking fleeting targets around the glove faster than today’s munitions. Additionally, MDA is working on doubling the size of its forthcoming SM-3 missile fleet over the next five years.
The Pentagon’s recently completed Joint Capability Mix II Study was meant to study the cocktail of missile defense weapons and sensors to handle threats that may occur in the 2015 time frame. The examination concluded that more SM-3 missiles would be needed. General Campbell has said that MDA plans to scatter the doubled SM-3 fleet across the “out years” of the future years defense strategy.
(Article, Link)
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U.S. Fighter Intercepts Ballistic Missile Using Air-to-Air Interceptor
December 3, 2007 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
In a landmark test on December 3, a U.S. F-16 fighter jet used an air-to-air missile to intercept and destroy a sounding rocket in its boost phase for the first time. The Net-Centric Airborne Defense Element (NCDE) can equip fighter aircrafts with missile interceptors that could eliminate ballistic missiles as they lift into space. While the aircraft could only intercept missiles within a 100 miles of the launch site, Missile Defense Agency spokesman Rick Lehner said the NCDE could still be effective against short and medium range missiles.
The test at White Sands, New Mexico, involved a F-16 fighter jet armed with two modified AIM-9X missiles. The missile seekers' relayed images of the rocket at close range, demonstrating the capability to acquire and track the target. Besides special seekers, AIM-9X and AIM-20 AAMRAM are fitted with a new liquid propellant second stage to give it the burst of speed needed to catch a ballistic missile in its boost phase.
Currently, the Pentagon is developing two other boost-phase intercept systems: the Airborne Laser and the Kinetic Energy Interceptor. (Article, Link)
» Missile Defense Agency Press Release
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Trident II D5 Achieves Record 120 Successful Test Launches In A Row
November 30, 2007 :: Spacewar.com :: News
On November 30, the U.S. Navy successfully test launched a Trident II D5 Fleet Ballistic Missile from a submarine in the Pacific Ocean, the U.S.S. Henry M. Jackson (SSBN 730). The latest test marks the 120th consecutive successful test launch since 1989 giving the Trident the best record of any large ballistic missile or space launch vehicle. The three-stage, solid-propellant, inertial-guided missile is currently aboard 12 U.S. Trident II Ohio-class submarines and four U.K. Trident II Vanguard-class submarines. It has a range of 4,000 nautical miles and carries multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles.
Lockheed Martin, which produces the missile, was awarded a major contract to continue producing the Trident II D5 on November 26. (Article, Link)
» Lockheed Martin wins $849 million missile contract
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Japanese Destroyer Successfully Completed Tracking Exercise
November 16, 2007 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
Lieutenant General Trey Obering, head of the Missile Defense Agency, and Japanese Rear Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano announced on November 16 the successful completion of a tracking exercise of the Japanese Destroyer JS Kongo. The Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai launched a target missile, which was tracked by the JS Kongo's 3.6 Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. The destroyer then simulated the launch of a Standard Missile-3 Block IA interceptor. The JS Kongo is scheduled to conduct an actual intercept test in December. (Article, Link)
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Aegis Intercept Successful; Two Targets Destroyed
November 6, 2007 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
On November 6, the Missile Defense Agency announced another successful test of the sea-based Aegis missile defense system. This test was the first simultaneous "hit-to-kill" interception of two unitary "non-separating" targets. The test was conducted off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii, in conjunction with the U.S. Navy, and with the participation of Japan.
At approximately 6:12 p.m., the missile range facility in Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii launched a short-range ballistic missile target. Moments later, the facility launched a second, identical missile. The U.S.S. Lake Erie's Aegis BMD Weapon System detected and tracked the targets, and then fired two SM-3 Block IA missiles, which intercepted the missiles. A Japanese destroyer also participated in the test. The J.S. Kongo conducted long-range surveillance and tracking, which should prepare it for what will be the first ballistic missile intercept test by a Japanese ship scheduled for later this year.
This test, designated Flight Test Standard Missile-13 (FTM-13), is the 32nd and 33rd successful "hit-to-kill" intercepts since 2001 (including tests by Ground Based Interceptors, Patriot PAC-3, THAAD, and Aegis). It also marks the tenth and eleventh successful intercepts, of thirteen targets in twelve scheduled flight tests for the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Program, a sea-based component of the Agency's broader ballistic missile defense system. (Article, Link)
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THAAD Intercept Test Successful
October 27, 2007 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
On October 27, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD) successfully intercepted a ballistic missile target at the Pacific Missile Range Facility off the island of Kauai in Hawaii. The exo-atmospheric test involved a SCUD-type target ballistic missile, a single-stage or non-separating target. This intercept marks the fourth of four intercept tests of THAAD, and the third at the Pacific Missile Range facility. This test is also the last for THAAD to attempt to intercept a unitary or Scud-type missile: future intercept tests will be against more complicated separating targets. THAAD is the first missile defense system designed to intercept short, medium and long range ballistic missiles both inside and outside the atmosphere. (Article, Link)
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» Missile system details for: Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
Missile Defense Team Completes Flight Test and Intercepts Target Missile
September 28, 2007 :: MDAA :: News
On September 28 the Missile Defense Agency reported the successful test of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, including an intercept of a target missile. The Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska launched a long range ballistic missile target, traveling southward to resemble the trajectory of a North Korean missile. The upgraded Early Warning Radar at Beale Air Force Base in California located and tracked the target. Seventeen minutes later, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California launched an interceptor missile, which released its exoatmospheric kill vehicle, the component that collides directly with the target warhead in space, a "hit to kill" kinetic technology. The interceptor successfully destroyed the target warhead, marking the seventh successful intercept of the GMD system, and the second time an operationally configured interceptor has been used in the past thirteen months. The test was described as highly complex, and integrating a number of components, including the Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX) located in the northern Pacific and an Aegis ballistic missile defense ship using its onboard SPY-1 radar to track the target warhead. (Article, Link)
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» Missile system details for: Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI), Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX), Aegis Ship-Based BMD
Successful PAC-3 Test at White Sands
July 18, 2007 :: UPI :: News
The successfully conducted another intercept test of the Patriot (PAC-3) interceptor at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico on July 18. The test was against a low-flying, air-breathing target, which was intercepted and destroyed by a PAC-3 missile. The test demonstrated the system's capability to detect, track, engage and destroy a cruise missile-type target. "After a number of successful tests against Tactical Ballistic Missile threats, PAC-3 has once again demonstrated its ability to also defend against low-flying, air-breathing threats in an increasingly more challenging battlefield environment," said Richard McDaniel, PAC-3 Missile program director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. (Article, Link)
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» Missile system details for: Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3)
