GMD Interceptor Flight Test
December 14, 2005 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
Four years to the day after President Bush gave official notice to Russia that the United States would be withdrawing from the ABM Treaty, the MDA conducted a successful, “important” test of a Ground Based Interceptor. The interceptor was launched from the Ronald Reagan Test site, located in the Kwajalein atoll of the Marshall Islands, in Pacific Ocean. The interceptor traveled northeast, toward a location of a simulated target missile launch from Kodiak, Alaska. The data fed the interceptor about the location of the simulated target was based on previous launches.
The importance of the launch is several-fold, not the least of which is that it is the first launch of a GBI since October 2002. On the last two attempts at a launch (in December 2004 and February 2005), minor hardware or software glitches resulted in the missile shutting itself down, and therefore never leaving its silo. A “variety of components and subcomponents” were also tested. A Boeing press release called the event the “first flight test of an operationally configured interceptor.”
Today’s test was designed Flight Test-1 (FT-1), which would seem to indicate a new nomenclature, or numbering of flight tests. Integrated Flight Test-7, for example, took place in December 2001; the test attempt which had been planned for February 2005 had been designated IFT-14. A new nomenclature could be the product of the thorough reassessment said to have taken place in recent years about the program’s testing. (Article, Link)
» December 13, 2001: Bush gives six month notice for U.S. intent to withdraw from ABM Treaty
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» Missile system details for: Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI), Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS)
THAAD Interceptor Undergoes Flight Test
November 22, 2005 :: Lockheed Martin :: News
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system today underwent a successful developmental flight test, reports Lockheed Martin, which produced the missile. The test, which took place at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, is the first for several years, since the THAAD program was restarted after being suspended for several years.
No intercept was attempted in the test, but the goals included such things as: evaluating how the missile exited the canister, booster and kill vehicle separation, kill vehicle control, and operation of the divert and attitude control system.
The next flight test will launch a missile with all elements of the integrated weapon system engaged and operating; the next four THAAD tests will also be conducted at White Sands, after which the tests will move to the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii where additional space allows the THAAD interceptors to fly increasingly longer and more complex missions. (Link)
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» Missile system details for: Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), White Sands Missile Range
Aegis Test Successful: Marks First Attempt Against More Advanced Separating Target
November 17, 2005 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
The Missile Defense Agency and the U.S. Navy today successfully conducted a significant test of the Aegis missile defense system. The test involved for the first time a “separating” target, meaning that the target warhead separated from its booster. Previous tests were against unitary (non-separating) targets representative of “SCUD”-type ballistic missiles. A separating missile requires the system to discriminate between targets, as well as presenting a smaller and faster target. “This test is very important and I’ll go as far as to say historical,” said Rear Adm. Kathleen K. Paige, program director of the sea-based missile defense project. “It verifies ballistic missile defense is real, that it is available today operationally at sea.” The Associated Press notes that senior representatives from the navies of Australia, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and Spain watched the test with Paige on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
As reported by the MDA press release, a medium-range separating target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. The USS Lake Erie, outfitted with the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense 3.0 Weapon System, detected and tracked the target. The USS Lake Erie launched the SM-3 interceptor some four minutes later. Six minutes after launch the interceptor successfully destroyed the target warhead more than 100 miles in space above the Pacific Ocean and 375 miles northwest of Kauai.
The test, designated as Flight Test Maritime 04-2 (FTM 04-2), was the seventh such test of the Aegis ship-based system, six of which have now been successful. The MDA reportedly plans three more sea-based tests next year. (Article, Link)
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» Missile system details for: Aegis Ship-Based BMD
PAC-3 Test Unsuccessful
November 15, 2005 :: News
A recent test of the Army’s Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile defense system against a short-range ballistic missile target was unsuccessful. The test took place on November 11 at White Sands Missile Range, in New Mexico. The PAC-3 has now had seventeen successful intercept tests and three unsuccessful intercepts. (Link)
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» Missile system details for: Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3), White Sands Missile Range
Alaskan Cobra Dane Radar Tracks C-17 Aircraft-Launched ICBM
September 26, 2005 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
The Missile Defense Agency today announced the successful completion of a test of the Cobra Dane radar located at Shemya, Alaska, and of the fire control system which relays information to Colorado Springs or Fort Greely Alaska, which would control the launch of an interceptor against an incoming missile.
A missile was launched by parachuting it from a C-17 aircraft over the Pacific some 800 miles (1280km) from Shemya, and then having the missile’s engines ignite and travel across the face of the Cobra Dane radar. The exercise was the first test of the Cobra Dane radar for missile defense purposes. The often-traveled trajectory of missiles and interceptors going between Vandenberg Air Force Base, California and the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific is sufficiently south to be out of range of the Cobra Dane radar. Designed to track Russian missile launches during the Cold War, its northern location also makes the Cobra Dane radar of especial use for tracking missile launches coming from North Korea or China.
From MDA:
After the missile was dropped from the aircraft, a parachute deployed to stabilize and slow the missile. The missile’s first stage rocket motor then ignited, sending the missile downrange. The target missile’s flight was successfully tracked by the Cobra Dane radar, and the data obtained by Cobra Dane was then used to construct a Weapon Task Plan, or firing solution, that was fed into the systems fire control system manned by military “warfighters” in Colorado Springs, Colorado and Ft. Greely, Alaska, who currently operate the interceptor missiles now deployed in Alaska and California, as well as the sensors and radars that provide operational detection and tracking information. …
Launching a missile from an aircraft provided an operationally realistic trajectory and an opportunity to fly across the face of the Cobra Dane radar. The radar has not been available for use during previous flight tests because it is well outside the area of the existing missile test range that stretches between the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean to the California coast. …The exercise completed today marks the first time that data obtained from an actual missile tracked by Cobra Dane was fed into the missile defense fire control system to obtain a firing solution.
(Article, Link)
» Chinese media coverage of missile launch, tracking
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» Missile system details for: Cobra Dane Radar
MDA Tests Forward-Based X-Band Radar in Conjunction with Air Force
September 20, 2005 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
The Missile Defense Agency today issued a press release on a successful launch and tracking exercise which took place on September 14. The test involved the operational test of a U.S. Air Force strategic missile from Vandenberg AFB, California, to serve as a “target of opportunity.” The primary tracking objective was to be done by the Forward-Based X-Band Transportable Radar, which is transportable and can moved by aircraft anywhere in the world. The test was called “Glory Trip 189.”
The radar acquired, tracked, and collected data on the target vehicle from acquisition of signal until approximately 500 seconds into the flight. The radar transmitted reports of the missile’s flight track to the Ballistic Missile Defense System’s (BMDS) Command, Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) system. Similarly a U.S. Navy Aegis ballistic missile defense ship also tracked the target vehicle and relayed tracking data to the command and control system, using operational communication links. Other MDA elements that participated in the test included the Airborne Infrared System, Project Hercules (improved missile detection and tracking research), and External Sensors Lab.
The missile tracked is not named in the MDA press release, but it may well have been the Minuteman III missile tested on September 14 from Vandenberg. (Article, Link)
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» Missile system details for: Aegis Ship-Based BMD
Fourth and Final Minuteman III Test for Year
September 14, 2005 :: News
The Air Force successfully launched an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile early today, the fourth and final Minuteman III test of the year. The missile’s single warhead traveled some 4,000 miles in about 30 minutes to a predetermined target in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific. The last Minuteman test took place on September 7. (Article, Link)
» Washington Post on Minuteman launch
» September 7, 2005 test launch of Minuteman III
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» Missile details: Minuteman I
» Missile system details for: Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS), Vandenberg Air Force Base
PAC-3 Interceptor Test Successful
September 8, 2005 :: Lockheed Martin :: News
The Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) interceptor system successfully destroyed a tactical ballistic missile during a flight test today at White Sands Missile Range, in New Mexico. The test was designated Task 2-2. As in previous tests, two Patriot missiles were “ripple-fired,” one after another, at an incoming Patriot-As-A-Target (an older Patriot missile modified to simulate a short-range missile). An additional PAC-3 test is scheduled for later this year.
From the press release:
The PAC-3 Missile Segment upgrade consists of the PAC-3 Missile, a highly agile hit-to-kill interceptor, the PAC-3 Missile canisters (in four packs), a Fire Solution Computer and an Enhanced Launcher Electronics System.
Army Colonel John Vaughn commented that this was a “variation of the current test, but we will be going after a slightly different threat.” (Link)
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» Missile system details for: Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3), Patriot
Minuteman III Test
September 7, 2005 :: News
The Air Force launched a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile early today, the second such test in recent weeks. The missiles’ two unarmed warheads traveled about 4,200 miles in about 30 minutes, hitting targets at the Ronald Reagan Test Site on the Kwajalein Atoll in the western chain of the Marshall Islands. The launch was the third this year. The final, fourth, test of the year is scheduled to take place next week. (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
Minuteman Missile Test
August 25, 2005 :: News
A Minuteman III missile was successfully tested today from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The missile’s warhead traveled toward and hit its target at the missile range in the Kwajalein Atoll. This test was specifically to demonstrate the integration of a Safety Enhanced Re-entry Vehicle into the existing Minuteman III weapons system. The newer warhead is such as that used for the newer Peacekeeper missiles which are now being deactivated. (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
