August 23, 2005 :: News
OFFICIAL: THAAD PROGRAM MAY BE UPGRADED TO REDUCE REQUIRED BATTERIES, Inside the Army, August 22, 2005.
The Missile Defense Agency is contemplating an upgrade to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense program that would cut the number of batteries required to defend the United States against asymmetric threats, according to Army Col. Charles Driessnack, the agency's THAAD project manager. By capitalizing on sensors in MDA's future Ballistic Missile Defense System architecture, one THAAD battery—nine launchers and one fire control radar—could be used to protect a U.S. coastline. The current system configuration, which uses only one radar per battery, would require nine THAAD batteries to protect the coast, Driessnack told reporters here Aug. 17 during the Army's annual Space and Missile Defense conference. However, the use of non-THAAD sensors would not provide the same accuracy as using just the system's radar, so a "kick stage," or added fuel, would be integrated to the THAAD missile to give the interceptor added maneuverability, according to Driessnack. To date, this added THAAD capability is only a proposal but if the agency decides to move forward on the plan it would be integrated in the 2010-2011 time frame, Driessnack said...
After a program restructure, MDA is preparing to resume a THAAD flight test program in fiscal year 2006. A series of five flight tests will be conducted at White Sands Missile Range, NM, before the system is moved to the Pacific Missile Range Facility on the Hawaiian island of Kauai in late FY-06, Driessnack told ITA last month. Accordingly, this fall Flight Test-01 will be held and is being billed as a "walk-up" missile characterization flight designed to demonstrate missile performance, Driessnack said. Flight Test-02, also held in the fall, will be an integrated flight test with a virtual intercept. During the test, the entire system will be working. However, a target will not be launched. Instead, a target will be "injected" into the radar to see how the system would perform if there was a live, in-bound threat in the air, Driessnack said.
During the winter of FY-06, the THAAD system will get its first opportunity to intercept a target. During Flight Test-03 -- a seeker characterization flight test -- a target will be flown to see how the seeker recognizes it. Intercepting the target is not an object of the test, but the THAAD would be in a position to do so. Flight Test-04, expected to be held next spring, will be an intercept test designed to flush out the system. The final test at White Sands, Flight Test-05, will be another missile characterization test in the summer of 2006. However, the test will be designed to examine how the THAAD kill vehicle operates in the lower atmosphere. Following the completion of the five tests, the system will be moved to the Pacific Missile Range Facility to accommodate increasingly more difficult and complex testing.
Meanwhile, the Army, MDA and U.S. Strategic Command have put together a plan to transition the first two THAAD fire units from the agency to the service... The agreement, included in MDA's "Ballistic Missile Defense System Transition Plan," is expected to be signed by Army and MDA leadership later this year, Driessnack said. In the meantime, the Army and MDA are inserting appropriate THAAD funding levels into each organization's 2008 program objective memorandum -- a six-year budget plan -- to cover the costs of the agreement, Driessnack added.
TWEAKING THE THAAD
Proposed upgrades to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system now under consideration by the Pentagon could significantly expand the operational range for the terminal-phase theater missile defense system, according to Aerospace Daily (August 18). The defense newsletter reports that worries over the worldwide proliferation of short-range ballistic missiles has prompted the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to consider the THAAD upgrades -- which would reduce the number of batteries required to protect either the eastern or western U.S. coastline from nine to just one. The proposed changes are expected to be incorporated into the system by 2010-2011. The first flight test of the THAAD is expected to take place this September.
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