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August 28, 2008
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Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI)
| Country: | USA |
|---|---|
| Basing: | Land, Sea |
Details
The Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI), as currently envisioned, will provide land-based and sea-based defense against medium- and long-range ballistic missiles in all phases of flight.
KEI was originally conceived to provide boost-phase defense, or the ability to destroy enemy missiles just after they have been launched. In the boost phase, ballistic missiles are slow and vulnerable, their location is predictable, and countermeasures and decoys cannot be deployed. However, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) recently announced that KEI will also attempt to destroy ballistic missiles in the midcourse and terminal phases.
The system initially will include (1) land-based interceptors mounted on mobile launchers, transportable by aircraft, and capable of deployment along the borders of threatening nations, and eventually will expand to (2) sea-based interceptors mounted on Navy destroyers and cruisers, possibly as part of the Aegis Ship-Based BMD. Once operational, KEI will be able to engage a medium- or long-range ballistic missile within the first five minutes of its flight.
Patriot-like mobile launchers will be used to transport the land-based interceptors. Each launcher will carry two interceptors housed in separate canisters, and will be transportable via a C-17 transport aircraft. It will take approximately three hours to set up each KEI battery of 10 missiles and 5 mobile launchers.
A command and control battle management and communications (C2BMC) component, consisting of six humvees, will integrate the KEI with the rest of the Ballistic Missile Defense System. Since KEI will not have its own radar or sensors, C2BMC will rely on systems deployed by other BMD programs such as the Aegis AN/SPY-1 radar system, the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS), or the Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX).
Once a threat has been detected, KEI will launch its high-velocity interceptor missile (36 feet long and 36 inches wide), which will fly toward its target at two-and-a-half to three times the speed of the average tactical missile, thus making KEI the fastest of its kind. The first and second stages of the booster will burn together in 60 seconds, propelling the interceptor forward at a velocity of 6 kilometers per second.
During the third phase, the interceptor will adjust its trajectory and eject its “kill vehicle,” a small weapon that will incorporate elements from two other MDA defense projects: the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV), a device that is used to destroy enemy missiles outside the atmosphere; and the Standard Missile-3, a sea-based missile with a kinetic warhead. The kill vehicle will close in on its target, aim for the missile’s brilliant plume, and slam into the enemy warhead, completely destroying the threat.
Although the project is moving forward, KEI has recently become the subject of much controversy and doubt. Many strong proponents of missile defense believe that the project is too risky, might not work as planned, and diverts attention and resources from more promising programs such as Brilliant Pebbles and the Standard Missile-3 interceptor. For instance, Brilliant Pebbles was originally expected to receive $6 billion in development funding over the next five years, but will now receive only $843 million, with only $11 million for 2005. KEI, by contrast, will cost an estimated $22 billion over the next 10 years.
Others point out that MDA’s decision to shift KEI from a boost-phase to an all-encompassing defense system simply defies logic, since KEI will replace two brand new rockets that were recently developed at considerable expense. Another problem that many point out is the fact that the 36-foot long KEI interceptor missile will not fit on the Navy’s Aegis cruisers and destroyers, thus hampering the feasibility of relatively inexpensive sea-based deployment.
Nevertheless, KEI is fully funded and moving forward. In December 2003, MDA awarded an initial $4.5 billion contract to a Northrop Grumman-led team including Raytheon, Orbital Sciences, Aerojet, and ATK. The project is currently in the development and testing phase. Between 2003 and 2011, the team will produce 10 land-based interceptors and conduct 5 integrated flight tests. Deployment is scheduled for sometime between 2010 and 2012.
Sources
Center for Security Policy.
GlobalSecurity.org.
Hackett, James T. “Missile Defense Going Astray?” The Washington Times, 29 April 2004.
“KEI Contractors Borrow From Other MDA Programs to Meet Schedule.” Inside Missile Defense, 28 April 2004.
Missile Defense Agency.
Northrop Grumman Corporation, KEI Introduction.
Northrop Grumman Corporation, KEI Fact Sheet.
Northrop Grumman Corporation, KEI Frequently Asked Questions.
“Northrop Grumman And Raytheon Bid For Kinetic Energy Interceptor.” Space Daily, 7 March 2003.
Raytheon Company.
Missile Defense Advocates Question KEI
As the Pentagon pushes for the development of the Kinectic Energy Interceptor (KEI), a system intended to shoot down missiles during the boost phase, and as the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) gave contracts to Northrop Grumman and Raytheon to develop the KEI system, staunch missile defense supporters are voicing concern over the usefulness of the system, according to Defense News.
Henry Cooper, chairman of High Frontier, a missile defense advocacy group, said last month at a Washington breakfast sponsored by the National Defense University, funding should be allocated to space and sea-based systems within the time frame provided for the development of the KEI. Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy, and James Hackett, a San Diego-based consultant, echoed similar sentiments.
Gaffney noted that the KEI, a land-based system, lacks in effectiveness against missiles in their boost phase because it is not able to be deployed near the launch site. For missile defense interceptors, the boost phase provides much better odds for taking out a missile because of the slower speed of flight right after launch and the inability to utilize decoys.
All three experts agreed that, in the long term, a space-based system is the best way forward for countering missiles in the boost phase; while, for the near term, using some KEI money for putting interceptors modeled after the Standard Missile-3 on the Navy’s Aegis cruisers is a worthwhile endeavor.
» More stories on: Policy
» Missile system details for: Aegis Ship-Based BMD, Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI)
Hackett on the KEI
Writing in the Washington Times, James T. Hackett worries about the direction the Missile Defense Agency is taking by pursuing programs such as the Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI), a land-based boost phase system, while ignoring the technologies available for space-based systems like Brilliant Pebbles.
Hackett also responds to MDA Director Kadish’s statement this week that because the Alaska ground-based interceptor and the Aegis sea-based deployments are on schedule, the United States would be fully protected from North Korea by the end of the year. Hackett responds that North Korea is believed to already have 8 nuclear weapons and to be producing more at the rate of 4-8 per year.
Hackett argues that the KEI program diverts attention and resources from better programs and undermines better directed efforts:
Under Mr. Bush’s father, this concept [Brilliant Pebbles] was studied extensively, was found feasible, and much development work was done. Last year, that program was expected to receive $6 billion for further development over the next five years. That amount now has been cut to $843 million, with only $11 million for 2005. At the same time, more than $4.5 billion has been reallocated to the KEI program.
Hackett points out that the object of the KEI, to intercept a missile in boost phase, is much better accomplished from space than from land. But the funds being poured into KEI should signal a greater warning to the future of effective missile defenses: “Worst of all, the KEI program is under Terry Little, a former Air Force official who allegedly said at a conference last year he is proud to be a liberal Democrat, missile defense skeptic, and opponent of weapons in space.”
» More stories on: Analysis, Land-Based Systems, Policy
» Missile system details for: Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI)
Center for Security Policy on BMD Budget, KEI
The Center for Security Policy weighs in on the fights in Congress over missile defense appropriations, with some harsh criticism of the current distribution of funds. The problem is the support of systems like the ground-based Kinetic Energy Interceptor, which is absorbing billions each year depriving far more effective programs from seeing the light of day.
Illustrating the limitations of the KEI, the Center notes that:
In fact, KEI program manager Terry Little, has produced a chart which notes, with considerable understatement, that a “Risk Item” is the fact that “Geo-Political Basing Constraints are a Driver of KEI Military Utility.” Just how much so is revealed by Mr. Little’s assessment that in order to secure coverage of Iranian ICBM launch sites, the U.S. would have to deploy KEI systems in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan. Similar coverage of North Korea would require KEI deployments in Russia. Recent experience with at least some of these countries suggests that they may prove to be unreliable, or at the very least insecure, basing countries.
At the same time that funding for the KEI is up, to 4.2 billion, programs such as Aegis, THAAD, and most importantly space-based interceptors, are being neglected.
» More stories on: Analysis, Land-Based Systems, Policy
» Missile system details for: Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI)
Major MDA Contract for Boost-Phase Interceptor
After an eight month competition with Lockheed Martin, the Missile Defense Agency has awarded an eight-year, 4.5 billion dollar contract to Northrop Grumman to produce an interceptor to destroy ballistic missiles during their boost-phase. This is the MDA’s first “capability-based” contract, and involves a design that would have been banned under the old ABM Treaty.
The contract is to produce a ground-based Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI). Its use of kinetic energy simply means that the interceptor would physically impact the missile: “hit-to-kill” technology. Unlike the Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) being constructed in Alaska which would intercept long-range missiles during their midcourse phase in space, the KEI, while ground-based is designed to intercept missiles in their boost phase, that is, during their ascent. As the boost phase for even a long-range missile is no more than roughly five minutes, the KEI would have to be located near enough the launch site of the enemy missile in order to still reach it during that phase. It also has to accelerate very fast, perhaps as much as 5,000 miles per hour. This particular interceptor design would be compatible of being launched from either land or sea. It would be capable of being loaded onto aircraft and deployed anywhere in the world. Northrop Grumman will likely initially produce five mobile launchers for the KEI.
A layered-defense is ultimately necessary, but interception during the boost-phase has a number of advantages. It is during this phase that a missile is at its most vulnerable: during ascent a missile is moving at a slower speed; the body of the missile is under considerable pressure; its exhaust plumes make it more visible and thus trackable; its fuel tanks, which are still attached, constitute a larger target; no countermeasures or decoys can be deployed, and of course should the interception fail, time remains for a second attempt in the midcourse or terminal phases.
» DoD Release: Northrop Grumman Boost Phase contract
» More stories on: Budget, Land-Based Systems, Technology, Testing - American
» Missile system details for: Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI)
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