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First Galileo Satellite Launched

On Wednesday, December 28, the first satellite in the multinational Galileo navigation program was launched into space. The satellite, named “Giove A,” took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz rocket. Scientists plan to test its atomic clocks and navigation signals, secure its frequencies in space, and monitor how radiation affects the craft. A second Galileo satellite, “Giove B,” is scheduled for launch this spring. Two additional satellites will then be launched in 2008 to complete the testing phase, which requires at least four satellites in orbit to guarantee an exact position and time anywhere on earth.
        Europeans hope that Galileo will end their reliance on the U.S. Global Positioning System. The $4 billion project will eventually use about 30 satellites and is expected to more than double the coverage currently provided by GPS. According to an ESA spokesman, Galileo will also be more exact than GPS, Galileo will also be more exact than GPS, with precision of about 1 meter, compared to about 5 meters with GPS technology. The Pentagon, however, has criticized Galileo as a potential security threat during wartime, saying its signals could interfere with the next-generation GPS signals intended for use by the U.S. military.
        China’s participation in the program has raised further concern. The potential for countries’ using space-based assets as strategic instruments which could be used against the United States in the case of a conflict suggests the importance that America be conscious of the coming competition in space and that America be willing to compete. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: China

Second Launch of Russian Bulava Missile, From Submerged Position

Russia today tested its Bulava (R-30/SS-NX-30) ballistic missile. The successful launch was only the second test of the Bulava system, the newest missile being developed by Russia. The missile was fired from the Dmitry Donskoy submarine of Russian navy’s Northern Fleet, from within the White Sea. In the previous test on September 27, the missile was fired while the submarine was at the surface. Today, however, the submarine was moving underwater at the time the missile was launched.
        The missile’s payload traveled some 6,000km to its target at the Kura testing range on the Far Eastern Kamchatka peninsula. Interfax reported that twelve missiles will be based on each submarine. RTR television in Moscow reported that the solid fuel Bulava missile can “carry at least 10 nuclear MIRV warheads and its range is about 8,000 km.” RTR television also showed President Putin and Defense Minister Ivanov commenting on the test:

[Ivanov] We can now already talk boldly about all the design and engineering decisions that were put into this new missile system having vindicated themselves.

In 2006 we will continue flight tests in the various modes of this system and we are already firmly counting on the fact that this system - and also the new submarine that is being built, as you know, alongside this system - will be accepted to be with our fleet by 2008.

[Putin] This is a good present to the country from all of those who have worked on this subject matter for the New Year. I congratulate you, well done!

        Ivanov was also quoted by RIA Novosti as emphasizing that, “What is important is that the submarine was moving [underwater], it was not stationary.” He noted that further Bulava testing would continue in 2006, and that “We are fairly certain that the [Bulava] missile system, and a new submarine to be equipped with it, will be deployed by our navy in 2008.”
        RIA Novosti noted that Chief of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces Gen Nikolai Solovtsev recently declared Moscow’s plans to test-fire several nuclear-capable cruise missiles in 2006. (Link) 

» RIA Novosti: Ivanov on launch significance

» Moscow RTR television quotes Putin and Ivanov on launch

» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign

» Missile details: SS-26

Tenth Interceptor Emplaced; Eight Now in Silos at Fort Greely

The Missile Defense Agency today issued a press release announcing the emplacement of the tenth Ground-Based Interceptor. The interceptor missile was put into a silo at Fort Greely in Alaska on December 17. The event marks the eighth interceptor deployed in Alaska; two others are at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The emplacement on December 17 is four years to the day after the White House issued a statement saying that the president had ordered the deployment of ballistic missile defenses.
        The MDA press release noted that “Another interceptor missile will be emplaced in January 2006, followed by additional interceptors by the end of 2006.” The January emplacement date would appear to have been recent: an MDA press release of December 13 said that “Two additional interceptor missiles are scheduled for deployment at Ft. Greely by the end of this year.” The exact number now scheduled to be deployed in 2006 was not specified in either release. Today’s press release also, curiously, states that “In the interest of operational security, future interceptor emplacements will not be announced.”
        The December 17 emplacement comes just four days after a successful test launch of a GBI missile from the Ronald Reagan Test site in the Marshall Islands, and three years to the day after the December 17, 2002 statement by the White House that the President had ordered the operational capability of these missile defenses in “2004-2005.”  (Article, Link) 

» December 17, 2002: White House orders missile defense operational in “2004-2005”

» December 16, 2002: National Security Policy Directive (NSPD) 23, ordering operational deployment of missile defenses “in 2004 and 2005”

» More stories on: Deployment

» Missile system details for: Fort Greely

Jane’s: Syria Agrees to Hide Iranian Nuclear Materials

Syria has agreed to store Iranian nuclear materials should Tehran come under UN sanctions, reports Jane’s Defence Weekly. According to Jane’s, Syria has committed “to allow Iran to safely store weapons, sensitive equipment or even hazardous materials on Syrian soil should Iran need such help in a time of crisis.” The agreement is said to be part of a larger Iranian-Syrian strategic accord meant to protect either country from international pressure. For instance, Iran has pledged to grant safe haven to any Syrian intelligence officer indicted by the UN or Lebanon regarding the Hariri assassination. Likewise, Syria is obligated to continue supplying the Iran-sponsored terrorist group Hizbullah with weapons, ammunition, and communications. The Iranian-Syrian accord, negotiations of which began in 2004, was signed by both parties on November 14, 2005, in preparation for possible sanctions imposed on either state. (Link) 

» More stories on: Iran, Syria

Another Regiment of Topol M Deployed

Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces are currently deploying a fifth Topol-M ICBM regiment in Tatishchevo, according to Russian news agencies. Four missiles were deployed this month, bringing the total number of silo-based missiles at Tatishchevo to 44.
        The Topol-M (SS-27) is capable of hitting targets at a range of more than 10,000 kilometers (6,000 miles), and is said to be the core of Russia’s modernized missile arsenal. A complete Topol-M regiment includes ten missiles and usually takes two years to deploy (four or six missiles are deployed at a time). Sources indicate that Russia has included six new missiles in its 2006 acquisition plan, and therefore it is unclear whether deployment of this fifth regiment will be completed in 2006. (Article, Link) 

» RIA Novosti on Topol activation

» More stories on: Russia

» Missile details: SS-N-6

Japan To Cover One Third of Cost

Japan will shoulder between one third and one half of the cost of building a joint missile defense shield with the U.S. According to officials inside Japan’s Defense Agency, Tokyo and Washington are still negotiating exactly how much each country will cover, although Japan expects to shoulder at least $1 billion of the estimated $3 billion total cost. A central element of the joint missile defense shield is the sea-based Standard Missile-3 interceptor, which will be deployed on Aegis destroyers to defend Japan from ballistic missile attack. (Link) 

» More stories on: Allies, Japan

» Missile system details for: Aegis Ship-Based BMD, Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3)

GMD Interceptor Flight Test

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

» More stories on: Testing - American

» Missile system details for: Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI), Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS)

Israeli Arrow Interceptor Successfully Destroys Target

On Friday December 2, Israel conducted another intercept test of its Arrow ballistic missile defense system. A Black Sparrow target missile said to simulate an Iranian Shahab-3 missile was launched from an aircraft overflying the Mediterranean. Radar located the target and transmitted its trajectory data to the command and control center, which calculated plans for defending against it. These were transmitted to the launcher, which launched the test interceptor from a military base said to be south of Tel Aviv. The interceptor, by some accounts the newer, “Arrow-2” interceptor produced and recently delivered by Boeing, successfully destroyed the target. A brochure provided by Rafael, producer of the Black Sparrow target, claims that it is capable of reproducing various reentry patterns: simple ballistic, barrel roll, and other sorts of maneuvers (inset picture).
        The exercise marked the fourteenth test of the Arrow interceptor, and the ninth trial run for the current weapons system. Defense officials said the object of the test was to examine the system’s enhanced capabilities, including an expanded interception range, and to test the interface between the Arrow system and the Patriot missile system, which is supposed to become activated in the event that the Arrow does not destroy the target.
        Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz called the test “a tremendous achievement” that “once again underscores the principle that the State of Israel relies first and foremost on itself when it comes to safeguarding the citizens of Israel.” Aryeh Herzog, head of the Arrow project in the Defense Ministry, told Israel Channel Two TV, “The launch was successful. The significance is that the Arrow arms project proved another part of its range of operations against the Iranian threat.”
        Jane’s Defense Weekly reports that the test pushed the altitude boundaries of the Arrow beyond those of previous tests:

The interception was conducted at a record low altitude, considered below the AWS’s performance envelope, and determined the operability of the Arrow II Block 3 interceptor, manufactured jointly by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) and Boeing Integrated Defense Systems.

“We have never before tried the Arrow against the Shahab characteristics, but we know now that we are capable of intercepting all existing ballistic missile threats in the region, whether conventional or non-conventional, and we are developing capabilities to deal with future threats,” Director of the Israel Missile Defence Organisation Arieh Herzog told JDW.

…Following the interception, IAF’s MIM-104 Patriot low- to high-altitude air-defence batteries joined the test, simulating an additional interception at lower altitude. Israel’s ballistic missile defence concept is based on a two-tier layered defence in which the AWS constitutes the higher layer and the Patriot an additional, lower layer.

        On August 26, 2004, the Arrow-2 failed to intercept a Shahab-3-type target (Black Sparrow) in a test. A few days earlier on July 29, 2004, the Arrow had successfully intercepted a Scud-type target. Both tests were conducted in California.
        A senior Israeli defense source was quoted as saying that Arrow system was preparing to provide a response to several missiles launched simultaneously at Israel, naming Iran and Syria as the primary threats being considered.
        Yair Ramati of the IAI’s MALAM defense plant was interviewed about the test on Voice of Israel radio in Jerusalem. Ramati said of the upgrades to the Arrow-2 upgrades,

The improvements do not lie in the hardware, but rather in new software installed in the radar, in the command and control systems and in the missile itself. It is a kind of a combination that has to be tested. Incidentally, this was the third time the software was tested.

 (Article, Link) 

» Interview on Voice of Israel radio

» Voice of Israel report of test

» Rafael brochure for Black Sparrow target missile

» Jane’s Defense Weekly on Arrow test

» More stories on: Israel, Testing - Foreign

» Missile system details for: Arrow