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December 4, 2008
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Home :: Missile Defense Systems
Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD)
| Country: | USA |
|---|---|
| Basing: | Land |
| In Service: | 2004 |
Details
The Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, scheduled for deployment in September 2004, will be the United States’ first operational missile defense program capable of protecting all 50 states. GMD will detect and track long-range ballistic missiles in their boost phase, and destroy them during their midcourse phase, i.e. while the missiles are outside the atmosphere and at their highest trajectory. The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency is currently installing six interceptor missiles at Fort Greely in Alaska, and four at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Over 20 interceptors are scheduled for deployment over the next two years.
Although MDA developed many of GMD’s technologies during the 1980s and 1990s, the project officially began in 1998 with a $1.6 billion dollar contract to Boeing. Subcontractors include Raytheon, TRW, Lockheed Martin, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Bechtel, and Teledyne Brown Engineering. The project is currently undergoing extensive ground and flight tests.
Upon completion, GMD will consist of an complex array of synchronized components: Air Force Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites; Space Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High) satellites; the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS); Upgraded Early Warning Radars (UEWRs); a Battle Management, Command, Control and Communications (BMC3) unit; the Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX); and Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) missiles.
In a typical combat scenario, DSP and SBIRS-High satellites scan the horizon for hostile ballistic missile launches. Once a threat has been detected, the satellites estimate the missile’s flight path. The Space Tracking and Surveillance System monitors the threat as it makes its way across the globe, while Upgraded Early Warning Radars predict its final destination. This allows GMD to launch its interceptors as early as possible. The BMC3 unit on the ground integrates all surveillance and tracking information.
The interceptor missile itself, known as the Ground-Based Interceptor, is located in an underground silo. Once launched, the GBI streaks toward the target’s predicted location, receiving in-flight updates along the way. MDA is currently developing a Sea-Based X-Band Radar, scheduled for completion in 2005, to guide the GBI and allow it to differentiate between warheads and decoys. In the meantime, GMD will use existing radars located on the California coastline and the Alaskan Aleutian Islands.
At a predetermined point, the GBI releases its Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV). The EKV is 55 inches long and weighs 140 pounds. It has its own infrared seeker, guidance system, and motor. As it closes in on its target, the EKV integrates data from the XBR with its on-board sensors and locks on to the enemy missile. The EKV continuously adjusts its flight path until it collides with the target (like a bullet hitting a bullet). The hit-to-kill impact causes complete destruction of the warhead, including any nuclear, chemical, or biological agents.
Since 1999, MDA has conducted seven GMD hit-to-kill tests. Five have been successful. The most recent test was on October 14, 2002, when a GBI from the Reagan Test Site in the central Pacific Ocean tracked and destroyed a target vehicle launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base at an altitude of 140 miles and a closing speed in excess of 15,000 miles per hour. Since then, MDA has also conducted two successful flight tests of the GBI boost vehicle. MDA plans to perform approximately seventeen more hit-to-kill intercepts over the next several years. MDA is also developing and constructing a Test Bed that will allow it to conduct rigorous EKV tests at angles, speeds, and conditions that closely resemble operational scenarios.
Despite these recent successes, several prominent Democrats have criticized MDA’s decision to deploy interceptor missiles at Fort Greely and Vandenberg. During the Democratic primaries, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) voiced his complete opposition to the program. Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) echoed his colleague, adding, “There is such a rush to deploy that I think it’s going to be an embarrassment to them—to the country—if we rush to judgment, rush to the commitment of resources.” Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), and Ret. Army Gen. Wesley Clark also expressed their concerns.
All the same, GMD has received enthusiastic support from the Bush Administration and the Republican-controlled Congress, and there are no foreseeable delays to its deployment. Over the next year, in fact, MDA will decide whether or not to build a third GMD interceptor site. Europe is a top choice for its location, since it would provide increased defense against missiles launched from the Middle East. MDA acknowledges that this potential third site could be either land-based or sea-based, and could be fielded as early as 2006.
Sources
The Boeing Company.
“Boeing-Led Missile Defense Team Scores Another ‘Hit’; Successful System Test Includes Intercept Over Pacific.” Boeing Press Release, 14 October 2002.
“Boeing Wins $1.6 Billion-Dollar Contract From DoD’s Joint Program Office To Act As Lead System Integrator for National Missile Defense Program.” Boeing Press Release, 30 April 1998.
“Boeing-Orbital Team Successfully Launches Booster Vehicle.” Boeing Press Release, 16 August 2003.
“Boeing Conducts Successful GMD Integrated Flight Test,” Boeing Press Release, 26 January 2004.
Breen, Tom. “Missile Defense Agency; Countdown To Historic Deployment.” Armed Forces Journal, 1 April 2004.
Federation of American Scientists, Description of GBI.
Federation of American Scientists, Description of XBR.
Globalsecurity.org.
Missile Defense Agency.
Raytheon Company.
Selinger, Marc. “GMD Successfully Conducts Flight Test With New Booster.” Aerospace Daily, 28 January 2004.
Selinger, Marc. “Sen. Kerry Opposes Upcoming Missile Defense Deployment.” Aerospace Daily, 21 January 2004.
Selinger, Marc. “Third Site For GMD Interceptors Could Be Picked In A Year.” Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, 28 April 2004.
GBI from Vandenberg Successfully Intercepts Target Missile
The Missile Defense Agency today successfully intercepted a target ballistic missile over the Pacific in the widest test in 18 months of the Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) missile. The Patriot-As-A-Target missile was launched from Kodiak, Alaska, and followed a trajectory similar to the path a North Korean missile might follow in an attack on West Coast cities. It was successfully shot down by a GBI launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The test was designed to collect large amounts of data rather than shoot down the target, although it accomplished both goals, the target warhead being destroyed. The test also marked the first time that a ground-based interceptor missile was launched from Vandenberg.
» More stories on: Testing - American
» Missile system details for: Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), Vandenberg Air Force Base
Rumsfeld Cautions on Missile Shield
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld today sounded a note of caution about expectations that ground-based interceptors would work in the event of a missile attack by North Korea, reports the AP. Speaking at a news conference after his visit to the underground silos in Fort Greely, Alaska, Rumsfeld said he would not be fully persuaded until the system has undergone more complete and realistic testing. “I want to see it happen,” he said. “A full end-to-end” demonstration is needed “where we actually put all the pieces” of the highly complex and far-flung missile defense system together and see whether it would succeed in destroying a warhead in flight. “That just hasn’t happened,” he said, adding that some elements of the missile defense system are yet to come on line, including some of the radars and sensors used to track the target missile. Rumsfeld declined to say when he thought the missile defense system would reach the point of full reliability, but stressed that his advisers have told him they believe it will work as designed in the event of an actual missile attack. “I have a lot of confidence in these folks, and I have a lot of confidence in the work that’s been done,” he said.
» More stories on: Policy
» Missile system details for: Fort Greely, Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD)
MDAA Calls for 10 More Interceptors for Vandeberg AFB
The Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA) has called for the deployment of 10 additional ground-based interceptors at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, to protect the West Coast from a possible North Korean ballistic missile attack. The U.S. already has two ground-based interceptors at Vandenberg AFB, as well as nine at Fort Greely in Alaska. MDAA also advocated for the deployment of an Aegis-equipped cruiser armed with Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) interceptors in the waters off Hawaii, and the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system at the Barking Sand Naval Base in Kauai, Hawaii. To defend against the missile threat from Iran, the alliance called for the development of a third interceptor site in Europe, and the deployment of Aegis-equipped cruisers in the Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, and Persian Gulf. The alliance added that the U.S. must continue to develop and invest in future missile defense assets, in particular systems capable of destroying missiles in their boost phase.
» More stories on: Policy
» Missile system details for: Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), Vandenberg Air Force Base
Independent Working Group Issues Major Report on Ballistic Missile Defense
Five years after withdrawing from the ABM Treaty, the United States has so far failed to take advantage of the withdrawal and revive development of specific technologies necessary to make the nation and its allies safe from missile attack. On July 10, The Independent Working Group (IWG) issued a major report outlining the need for more ambitious efforts in ballistic missile defense policy. The report, entitled Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-First Century, advocates the development and deployment of robust missile defense capabilities well beyond the limited ground-based system currently being deployed in Alaska and California. The Claremont Institute is one of eight public policy organizations from around the country co-sponsoring the report.
The report recommends that the Pentagon build on the legacy of technologies developed under the Strategic Defense Initiative of the Reagan and first Bush administrations. Sea- and space-based assets should constitute the backbone of a robust, layered U.S. missile defense shield, which ground-based systems should support. Such a shield would be capable of protecting the U.S., its allies, and troops abroad against the threat of a hostile missile attacks from any quarter. The missile threat has only increased in recent years as rogue nations and transnational terrorist organizations attempt to acquire ballistic missile technology and weapons of mass destruction. The report praises the Bush Administration for withdrawing from the 1972 ABM Treaty and beginning modest and limited deployments, but also criticizes the failure to use existing technologies to deploy a more robust system actually capable of defending the United States, our troops, and our allies.
Changes to sea-based missile defense development programs could be made for approximately $350 million, in three specific areas. The U.S. could demonstrate a space-based missile defense system for some $3-5 billion, and field some 1000 space-based interceptors for an anticipated cost of $16.4 billion. Current expenditures for missile defense total approximately $8 billion per year.
The Independent Working Group is co-chaired by Dr. Robert Pfaltzgraff, President of the Institute of Foreign Policy Analysis (IFPA) at Tufts University, and by Dr. William R. Van Cleave, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Defense and Strategic Studies at Missouri State University, and a member of the original U.S. delegation which drafted the 1972 ABM Treaty. Ambassador Henry F. Cooper, who in former roles oversaw both development of missile defense for the U.S. and was chief negotiator to the Geneva Defense and Space Talks, Dr. Robert Jastrow, founding director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and Dr. Lowell Wood, a Physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Commissioner on the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) were among the numerous missile defense, space, and security experts from the scientific, technical, and national security policy communities around the country who are members of the Independent Working Group.
Members of the Working Group also include Brian T. Kennedy, president of the Claremont Institute, and Thomas Karako, Director of Programs at the Claremont Institute and editor of Missilethreat.com. Sponsors and authors of the IWG report include eight think-tanks headquartered in Washington D.C., California, Alaska, Missouri, Massachusetts, and around the country.
Further, the experts called on the U.S. to recreate and sustain the scientific and technology base—including the workforce needed—to assure U.S. primacy in space and missile defense. That job would be accomplished by revamping organizational leadership of sea and space based missile defense in the U.S., and directing the National Science Foundation and other government agencies to further emphasize research in space technologies.
The report was released July 10 in Washington D.C., and will be followed by a series of briefings to the public and governmental officials during 2006 and 2007.
“We cannot be complacent about the missile defense program we have with the new threats the U.S. is facing,” said Dr. Robert Pfaltzgraff, co-chair of the Independent Working Group. “We promised ourselves an effective, layered defense with our withdrawal from the ABM treaty. It is now time to put politics aside and use the most effective technologies to make that happen.”
» More stories on: Resources, Space-Based Systems
» Missile system details for: Brilliant Pebbles, Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3)
MDA Officials to Visit Czech Republic
MDA officials will travel to the Czech Republic next week to examine possible locations for a U.S. missile defense base. According to the Czech Defense Ministry, the U.S. officials will arrive on July 18 and will examine three military areas. A similar visit has already taken place in Poland. The Pentagon hopes to deploy ground-based missile defense interceptors in Europe to defend against incoming threats from the Middle East.
» Missile system details for: Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD)
NRO Symposium on Missile Defense and North Korea
A recent symposium on National Review Online presented a range of options for what to do about North Korea.
Angelo M. Codevilla, professor of international relations at Boston University and a fellow at the Claremont Institute, argues that the U.S. should “get serious about missile defense.” He calls the current U.S. missile defense program “Clinton lite and twice the price,” a reference to the Bush administration’s adoption of Clinton’s favoring of ground-based interceptors and other near-term solutions over more effective space-based assets.
Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, argues that ballistic missile defense will simply not work, and that “no serious person believes this.” The tests of the ground-based interceptors currently deployed in Alaska and California have not been robust enough or realistic enough to assure that the U.S. can intercept a North Korean missile, if launched. The U.S. should instead destroy the missile on its site. “Our ability to preempt the launch is nearly certain,” he wrote.
Malcolm Wallop, former senator and founder and chairman of Frontiers of Freedom, argues that the U.S. should deploy Aegis missile defense warships within range of any North Korea launch sites, making it clear that any missiles launched will be destroyed over North Korean territory. The U.S. should also “demonstrably arm” the ground-based interceptor missiles in Alaska. Only as a last resort should the U.S. attack North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities directly
» More stories on: Analysis, North Korea
» Missile details: Tien Ma 1
» Missile system details for: Aegis Ship-Based BMD, Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD)
Missile Defense System Declared “Operational”
The U.S. ground-based interceptor missile defense system is now said to be operational, as North Korea prepares to test launch its Taep’o-dong 2 ballistic missile. The defensive system currently consists of 11 ground-based interceptor missiles, nine deployed at Fort Greely, Alaska, and two at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. In addition, two Navy Aegis warships are on patrol near North Korea and would be among the first sensors that could trigger the use of the ground-based interceptors. The ground-based interceptors appear to constitute the only defense against the North Korean missiles, which are capable of striking the continental U.S. If the Aegis ships in the Sea of Japan contain Standard Missile interceptors in addition to their radars and tracking sensors, this has not been publicly announced. It is not clear if the announcement is of permanent operational capability, or if it is rather keeping with previous announcements of limited and intermittent operational capability, on special alert given North Korea’s apparent missile fueling.
The GMD missile system was switched from test to operational mode within the past two weeks, according to various defense sources. The Washington Times cites a senior Bush administration official as stating that the White House is currently considering how to proceed if and when the Taep’o-dong 2 were to be launched. A decision to shoot down the missile would be made at the highest command levels, which includes the president, secretary of defense, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has stated that a North Korean launch would be a serious matter and “would be taken with utmost seriousness and indeed a provocative act.”
» More stories on: Deployment, North Korea, Policy
» Missile details: Tien Ma 1
» Missile system details for: Fort Greely, Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI), Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), Vandenberg Air Force Base
Ninth GMD Interceptor Installed at Ft. Greely, 11th Interceptor Total
The Missile Defense Agency has installed a ninth ground-based interceptor at Fort Greely, Alaska, according to MDA spokesman Rick Lehner. Combined with the two interceptors deployed at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, the U.S. has now deployed a total of 11 interceptors as part of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system.
» More stories on: Deployment
» Missile system details for: Fort Greely, Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD)
NYT on Plans for Europe Site
The Pentagon is expected to choose the location for a new European missile defense site this summer, reports The New York Times. Poland and the Czech Republic are among the nations under consideration. The plan calls for the installation of 10 interceptor missiles by 2011, which would be able to defend Europe or the U.S. against Iranian missile strikes. The Pentagon has asked Congress for $56 million to begin initial work on the European site, and the final cost, including the interceptors themselves, is estimated at $1.6 billion.
» More stories on: Allies
» Missile system details for: Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI), Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD)
Silos Tested in Advance of Summer GMD Launches
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.
» More stories on: Testing - American
» Missile system details for: Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), Vandenberg Air Force Base
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