Independent Working Group Report: Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-First Century. »»
February 4, 2012
IWG Report 2009
Independent Working Group Report: Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-First Century. »»
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Forward-Based X-Band Radar-Transportable
| Alternate Name: | FBX-T |
|---|---|
| Country: | USA |
| Basing: | Land; Mobile |
Details
The Missile Defense Agency’s Forward-Based X-Band Radar-Transportable (FBX-T) system is a high-resolution, X-band class, phased array radar based upon and designed to be integrated with the hardware and software programs built for such missile interceptors as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).
The FBX-T is a highly mobile, land-based, radar system that would be placed in strategic areas overseas in order to provide additional advance warning of potential ballistic threats from locations near the location of a missile’s launch. The FBX-T can be transported to its destination by air, sea or rail. As the first sensor to pick up a threat at launch, the Forward-Based radar would acquire, track, classify, and estimate the trajectory of a missile and then transmit that information to the “adjunct” radar system for more detailed analysis, with eventual transmission to the rest of the multi-layered U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System.
By providing early and accurate target-tracing and signature data the FBX-T would enlarge the effective “battle space” of U.S. interceptors, thereby increasing the threat detection and defense capabilities of the BMDS. Closer proximity to the launch site allows for earlier detection, which decreases the time needed for launch detection as well as supplement tracking and therefore provide greater accuracy for targeting. For example, a missile launched from North Korea or China could be more quickly detected, tracked, and targeted if forward based radars were deployed in such places as South Korea or Japan.
The first FBX-T radar unit is scheduled to be ready for deployment by the end of 2005, with operational tracking capability scheduled for early 2006. Three more FBX-T’s are set to be produced in the coming years, with a final deadline of 2010.
Sources
Missile Defense Agency, BMDS Book: http://www.mda.mil/mdalink/pdf/bmdsbook.pdf Missile Defense Agency, Sensors: http://www.mda.mil/mdalink/html/sensors.html Globalsecurity.org, http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/fbx-t.htm “MDA: Adjunct Sensors to Close THAAD-Like Radar’s Coverage Gaps” Inside the Army, May 2, 2005.
Israel Tests Iron Dome
Over the past two days, the Israeli military has conducted the final tests of its Iron Dome missile defense system. Iron Dome is a component part of Israel's growing multi-layered missile defense architecture, and is tasked with stopping the short-range rockets (among others, Grads, Katyushas, and Qassams) fired by Hamas from the Gaza strip and by Hezbollah into northern Israel.
This testing comes on the heels of the massive Juniper Cobra joint war games exercise conducted by the U.S. and Israel in late October and November of 2009. That exercise was meant to test and improve the connectivity and interoperability of U.S. and Israeli armed forces in the event of a missile attack. Although it was said to have been in the works for some time, the political and strategic timing of the exercise considering Iran's recent saber-rattling couldn't have been better. The sea-based U.S. Aegis system that is now tasked with protecting Eastern Europe was used in that exercise, along with the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), and the forward-based X-band radar that was deployed in Israel in 2008.
Between Iron Dome, David's Sling (another joint project of the U.S. and Israel tasked with the interception of cruise missiles), the Arrow-2 system that has been deployed for some time, and a longer-range Arrow-3 system, Israel is quickly becoming one of a few world-leaders in missile defense technology and deployment.
In related news, on December 21, 2009 the White House announced the signing of the latest defense appropriation bill in which $202 million is provided to help fund Israeli missile defenses.
» President Obama and Congress fund Israeli missile defense
» Longer Range Rockets Threaten Israel from Gaza
» Israel Conducts Successful Short Range Missile Intercept
» Israeli Missile Defense Test Success
» Missile system details for: Arrow, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX), Forward-Based X-Band Radar-Transportable, Aegis Ship-Based BMD
U.S. Army Activates X-Band Radar in Northern Japan
The U.S. Army has now activated an X-band radar in northern Japan to track regional ballistic missiles. On Tuesday, September 26, Brigadier General John E. Seward hosted a ceremony at Camp Shariki in the northern Aomori state to activate the X-Band radar. The system was moved earlier this summer from the U.S. military’s Misawa Air Base in Misawa, also in northern Japan. The two nations began working on the radar in 1998 after North Korea fired a Taep’o-dong 1 ballistic missile over northern Japan. The powerful X-band radar can identify objects from thousands of miles away and is designed to differentiate between decoys and real missile warheads. It is part of an ongoing U.S. and Japanese collaboration on missile defense that includes the joint production of sea-based Standard Missile-3 interceptors capable of destroying incoming missiles and the deployment of land-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors around Japan.
» More stories on: Allies, Japan, North Korea
» Missile details: Tien Chi
» Missile system details for: Forward-Based X-Band Radar-Transportable, Japanese Ballistic Missile Defense
U.S. Considers Second Mobile X-Band Radar for Japan
Kyodo reports that the U.S. is considering the deployment of a second mobile X-band radar in the Western Pacific in response to North Korea’s firing of ballistic missile last month. The article quotes an unnamed Pentagon official who said that four candidate sites for the second radar are Kyushu and Okinawa in southern Japan, as well as South Korea and Guam. The official added that the second radar would be located in the southern part of the region in an attempt to expand the scope of tracking North Korean missiles in combination with the first mobile X-band radar system already deployed in Aomori in northern Japan. The Aomori radar was deployed as part of a U.S.-Japan agreement in May on realigning U.S. forces in Japan.
» More stories on: Allies, Japan, Detection and Tracking
» Missile system details for: Forward-Based X-Band Radar-Transportable, Japanese Ballistic Missile Defense
Pentagon Studies Linking THAAD X-Band Radar to Sea-Based Interceptors
The U.S. Army is considering ways to create an “instant” missile defense capability by combining forward-based X-band radars on land with sea-based Standard Missile-3 interceptors, reports the August 2 edition of Jane’s Defence Weekly. According to Lieutenant General Larry Dodgen, head of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defence Command, the Army is looking at the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) radar as a “deployable asset.” The forward-based X-band radar is a highly mobile, land-based, radar system that was designed for deployment in strategic areas overseas in order to provide advance warning of potential ballistic threats from locations near a missile’s launch.
» More stories on: Policy
» Missile system details for: Forward-Based X-Band Radar-Transportable, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
X-Band Radar in Japan To Undergo Trials over Summer
A new mobile X-band radar, designed to detect and track ballistic missiles, is now being deployed in Japan and will begin trials this summer, reports Kyodo. The X-band radar operates at a frequency of 10 gigahertz, and provides surveillance, acquisition, tracking, and kill assessment for missile defense systems. Built by the U.S., it will be deployed in the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force’s Shariki base in Tsugaru, located in the northeastern Aomori prefecture. The radar will face the Sea of Japan, and will be operated by approximately 10 U.S. military personnel and 50 civilians. According to the report, the X-band radar is expected to be fully installed by December 2006.
» More stories on: Allies, Japan
» Missile system details for: Forward-Based X-Band Radar-Transportable
Text of U.S.-Japan Alliance Report
The Japanese Kyodo news agency provides the full text of the “US-Japan Alliance: Transformation and Realignment for the Future,” the interim report on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, adopted Saturday by Japan and the United States. The 14-page report has been called one of the most significant in decades between the two countries.
As it relates to ballistic missile defense, the report notes that there will be considerable cooperation, potential deployments of Patriot and SM-3 interceptors, and the near-term deployment of an X-band radar, which would be useful for the detection and tracking of a missile launched against either Japan or the U.S. Some excerpts:
- Emphasizing that BMD plays a critical role in deterring and defending against ballistic missile attacks, and can dissuade other parties from development and proliferation of ballistic missiles, both sides stressed the value of closely coordinating improvements in their respective BMD capabilities. To support these BMD systems, they emphasized the critical importance of constant information gathering and sharing, as well as maintaining high readiness and interoperability in light of the minimal time available to respond to a ballistic missile threat. The US will deploy additional complementary capabilities in and around Japan when appropriate, coordinating their operations to support Japan’s missile defense operations. Close coordination between respective BMD command and control systems will be critical to effective missile defense operations.
- The optimum site for deployment in Japan of a new US X-Band radar system will be examined. Through timely information sharing, this radar will support capabilities to intercept missiles directed at Japan and capabilities for Japan’s civil defense and consequence management. In addition, as appropriate, the US will deploy active defenses, such as Patriot PAC-3 and Standard Missile (SM-3) to support US treaty commitments.
Full text of report:
» Full text via BBC Monitoring
» More stories on: Allies, Japan
» Missile system details for: Forward-Based X-Band Radar-Transportable
Japan Base Could Host U.S. Forward Deployed X-Band Radar
Japan may allow the United States to deploy the new FBX mobile radar on its territory, according to Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. The deployment of such radar on Japanese territory for the potential use of defending against a missile attack on the United States is controversial because some see it as violating the Japanese constitution and the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty.
The deployment is important, however, for the detection and tracking capabilities of the more advanced and longer-range X-band radar. Such detection would be important to a missile attack launched from within the Eurasian continent against either Japan or the United States. From Asahi Shimbun:
The primary candidate site for the radar system is the Air Self-Defense Force’s Shariki air station in Tsugaru, Aomori Prefecture, Japanese government sources said.
They said the radar system being considered is a U.S-developed X-band radar that is more advanced than the system Japan is scheduled to install in fiscal 2008 to guard against medium-range ballistic missiles.
The X-band radar has a longer detection range, enabling it to respond to ballistic missiles launched from deep within a continent, and is also capable of differentiating missile shapes.
The United States successfully completed an experiment in September in which the X-band radar distinguished between decoy and ballistic missiles.
Plans call for the deployment of one X-band radar system in the current fiscal year.
In talks in the summer of 2004 concerning the realignment of U.S. military forces in Japan, American officials formally proposed the deployment of the X-band radar in Japan to protect the United States from ballistic missile attacks. …
The Shariki air station is being considered a candidate site because it is located in an area capable of detecting missiles North Korea may launch at the United States.
Although the United States would likely share in the usage of Shariki air station, no specific date has been set for deployment of the radar system.
Japan and the United States have already reached an agreement in principle to move the ASDF’s Air Defense Command from Tokyo’s Fuchu to the U.S. military’s Yokota Air Base as part of plans to implement a joint missile defense system.
The plans call for establishing a joint tactical center at Yokota where the Air Defense Command could share information with the 5th Air Force of the United States based at Yokota.
The alleged capabilities of the FBX-T to track missiles launched from “deep within” the continent could plausibly be integrated into a system of interceptors capable of defending against Chinese missiles.
» More stories on: Allies, Japan, Detection and Tracking
» Missile system details for: Forward-Based X-Band Radar-Transportable
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