THAAD Flight Test Successful
May 11, 2006 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
The Missile Defense Agency successfully completed a flight test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system today at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. All THAAD components were tested, including the mobile launcher, radar, fire control and communications element, and the interceptor missile. The test did not involve a target missile, but utilized “virtual target” software. According to MDA, the test successfully demonstrated the performance of the interceptor missile, which successfully maneuvered into the path of the virtual target. The THAAD radar also participated in the test by acquiring and tracking the virtual target and providing in-flight updates.
THAAD is designed to intercept short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles during the “terminal” phase of a ballistic missile’s flight, the final minute or so before it strikes its target. MDA plans to conduct a live target intercept later this year. (Article, Link)
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» Missile system details for: Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
Silos Tested in Advance of Summer GMD Launches
May 10, 2006 :: News
Boeing recently completed silo modification tests for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, clearing the way for a flight test this summer. The tests validated the lateral supports, which stabilize the interceptors inside the silos, as well as the silo closure mechanism, or clamshell doors. The tests were first conducted on a test silo in Huntsville, Alabama, and then verified at the Ronald W. Reagan Missile Defense Site at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The ground-based interceptors themselves were not included in the tests. (Article, Link)
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» Missile system details for: Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), Vandenberg Air Force Base
MDA Conducts Second Critical Measurements/Countermeasures Test From Hawaii
May 1, 2006 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
On April 28, MDA conducted the second test of its Critical Measurements/Countermeasures Program, launching an Orbital SR19 long-range target missile from the Pacific Missile Range in Hawaii. The test was designed to evaluate missile defense sensors in a complex controlled environment. According to MDA Director Henry “Trey” Obering, the SR19’s payload included complex countermeasures, a mock reentry vehicle, an on-board sensor package, and a number of missile defense-related experiments. The test successfully collected radar and optical data that will be used for the design and improvement of missile defense interceptor and sensor systems. The last Critical Measurements/Countermeasures test was conducted on April 13. (Article, Link)
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New Third Stage Rocket Motor of SM-3 Interceptor Successfully Tested
April 27, 2006 :: UPI :: News
A new third stage rocket motor for MDA’s Standard Missile-3 interceptor was successfully tested on Monday, reports UPI. The test was carried out at Edwards Air Force Base, California, inside a vacuum chamber designed to simulate the space environment the SM-3 would encounter if launched against an incoming warhead. The third stage motor is designed to boost the SM-3 out of the atmosphere and to carry its Mk142 kinetic warhead (kill vehicle) to its intended target. The test successfully demonstrated the extended time lapse between the end of the motor’s first pulse and the initiation of the second. The first pulse puts the third stage on an intercept trajectory while the second pulse makes any necessary last-minute course corrections.
The SM-3 is a joint initiative between the U.S. and Japan. Once operational, the interceptors will be deployed on Aegis destroyers and cruisers as a sea-based defense against medium and long-range missiles. (Article, Link)
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» Missile system details for: Aegis Ship-Based BMD
MDA Test of Countermeasures Program
April 17, 2006 :: UPI :: News
On April 13, MDA launched an Orbital SR19 rocket at the Pacific Missile Range in Hawaii as part of its Critical Measurements/Countermeasures Program. The test was designed to evaluate missile defense sensors. The SR19 was equipped with a payload engineered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which included countermeasures, a mock reentry vehicle, an on-board sensor package, and a number of missile defense related experiments. The payload successfully collected radar and optical data addressing critical system level planned upgrades for missile defense elements. The overall project was managed by Lockheed Martin; Orbital Sciences Corp. provided launch services. (Article, Link)
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Minuteman-3 Tested from Vandenberg
April 7, 2006 :: News
An unarmed Minuteman-3 intercontinental ballistic missile was test-launched today from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The missile’s single, unarmed re-entry vehicle traveled approximately 8,200 km (5,100 miles), striking a pre-determined water target near Guam in the Northern Mariana Islands. The launch was part of a developmental test to demonstrate the weapon’s effectiveness at an extended range. The Minuteman-3 missile originated from the 564th Missile Squadron at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana. (Article, Link)
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» Missile details: Minuteman I
» Missile system details for: Vandenberg Air Force Base
U.S.-Japan SM-3 Interceptor Test Successful, Using Innovative Japanese Nosecone
March 8, 2006 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
The U.S. and Japan successfully test-launched a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) today from the Aegis-equipped cruiser USS Lake Erie near Hawaii. The SM-3 was equipped with an experimental nosecone, which is being jointly developed by the Missile Defense Agency and the Japanese Defense Agency.
The demonstration also tested prototypes for the rocket motor, but the primary test was of an innovative “clamshell” nosecone, designed by Japan to more quickly release the interceptor’s kill vehicle. In the standard configuration for previous tests, the SM-3 missile must maneuver to eject the barrel-shaped kill vehicle—a process known as “pitch and ditch.” The newer nosecone eliminates the need for such maneuvers, which in turn means the kinetic kill vehicle can collide with and destroy its target more quickly. The flight test did not involve an attempted intercept of a target missile, but simulated target data was instead fed into the computers of Aegis weapon system. Instead of a kill vehicle aboard the SM-3, its nosecone instead contained a camera and instruments to register temperature and shock readings during the flight. In today’s test, the nosecone was deployed at about 88 kilometers above the Pacific Ocean and 96 km northwest of the island of Kauai.
Japan has already decided to procure the SM-3 and the Aegis defense system for several of its Kongo class destroyers, as well as purchasing a number of Patriot (PAC-3) interceptors, and having received a license to produce others. Japan’s innovation in missile defense technologies is a further sign of growing international support for ballistic missile defense. (Article, Link)
» Defense News on SM-3 Test
» MDA Photos of SM-3 interceptor launch
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» Missile system details for: Aegis Ship-Based BMD
MDA Launches Target Missile to Test Beale Missile Radar
February 23, 2006 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
The Missile Defense Agency today successfully tested an upgraded early warning radar located at Beale Air Force Base, California, which forms a part of the missile defense system being developed. A long-range Strategic Targets System (STARS) rocket was launched from the Kodiak Launch Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska, and was successfully tracked by the Beale AFB radar during the exercise. Other news reports noted that the 35-foot long target missile was indeed launched, and its payload traveled 2,500 miles toward the California-Mexico border, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.
An interceptor missile, such as the Ground Based Interceptors some of which are based at Vandenberg AFB, was not launched during the exercise, “but the test did include the launch of a simulated interceptor from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. using performance data from previous interceptor launches.” (Article, Link)
» Video by Missile Defense Agency of February 23 test
» MDA photos of test
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» Missile system details for: Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI), Kodiak Launch Complex
U.S. Tests Minuteman-3 From Vandenberg
February 16, 2006 :: News
The U.S. Air Force today test launched a Minuteman-3 intercontinental ballistic missile. The unarmed missile took off at 12:01 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and hit a target 4,800 miles away on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The purpose of the test was to gather data on the weapon and determine whether the Mark-2 re-entry vehicle is effective on the Minuteman-3. (Article, Link)
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» Missile details: Minuteman I
» Missile system details for: Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS), Vandenberg Air Force Base
KEI Engine Test
January 20, 2006 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
The Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) underwent the first in a series of static test firings of its second-stage rocket, on January 17. During the tests, the rocket motor burned successfully to completion, meeting performance and integrity expectations.
The KEI is the planned ground-based boost-phase interceptor component of the U.S. layered ballistic missile defense system. The significance of these engine tests are to determine if it is possible to develop an interceptor capable of extraordinarily fast acceleration, necessary to “catch up” with an enemy missile from a position on the ground. (Article, Link)
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» Missile system details for: Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI)
