Cheryl Pellerin at the DoD
News offers the below report:
WASHINGTON, May 31, 2017 —
Yesterday’s successful test of part of the nation’s ballistic missile defense
system shows that the United States can defend itself against the threat of
ballistic missile launches from North Korea or Iran, the director of the Missile
Defense Agency said today.
Navy Vice Adm. James D.
Syring, speaking to members of the press by telephone from Schriever Air Force
Base, Colorado, said the test replicated an operational scenario that concerns
the military and represents a critical program milestone.
“I was confident before the
test that we had the capability to defeat any threat that [North Korea or Iran]
would throw at us,” Syring told reporters, “and I'm even more confident today,
after seeing the intercept test yesterday, that we continue to be on that
course.”
Ground-Based Midcourse
Defense
The Ballistic Missile Defense
System can target an incoming ballistic missile at three points in its
trajectory.
These are the boost phase,
from launch through ascent, 1-5 minutes; the midcourse phase, when the missile
booster burns out and the missile coasts in space toward its target, up to 20
minutes; and the terminal phase, a brief period when the missile reenters the
atmosphere, according to the MDA website.
Yesterday’s test involved the
midcourse phase and was system’s first live-fire event, matching a ground-based
interceptor carrying an exo-atmospheric kill vehicle against an
intercontinental ballistic missile-class threat designed to replicate something
that might come at the United States from North Korea or Iran, Syring said.
During the test, the target
ICBM launched from the Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall
Islands. Sensors fed target acquisition and tracking data to the command,
control, battle management and communication system. Sea-based x-band radar
positioned in the Pacific Ocean also acquired and tracked the target.
The ground-based missile
defense, or GMD, system received the target tracking data and developed a
fire-control solution to intercept the target.
Then a ground-based
interceptor -- a multistage solid-fuel booster -- launched from Vandenberg Air
Force Base in California, carrying the exo-atmospheric kill vehicle toward the
target ICBM’s location in space. The interceptor released the kill vehicle,
which used guidance data transmitted from ground and onboard sensors to collide
with and destroy the target warhead, the MDA website says.
The interceptor tested
yesterday is the same configuration that will complete the fielding of 44 total
interceptors by the end of 2017, the admiral said.
Challenging Mission
Syring said that though this
was a developmental test, the scenario is the same as one they would expect to
occur during an actual operational engagement.
“Based on all the data we've
received to date, all indications are that all our system performed exactly as
designed,” he said.
Ballistic missile defense is
an incredible challenge, the admiral explained. The defending missile must
intercept a missile that can travel thousands of miles per hour, in this case
outside the earth's atmosphere.
“Our mission becomes more
challenging as time goes on as [adversaries] continue to develop increasingly
complex threats. But yesterday's test did demonstrate that the system continues
to improve and mature, and it is ready to defend the homeland today,” Syring
said.
The next test, to take place
in the fall or later in the 2018 calendar year, will involve one target and two
interceptors/kill vehicles, the next step in ever-increasing operational
realism. The program plan for testing adversary ICBM salvos is scheduled for
the 2023 time frame, the admiral said.
Ahead of the Evolving Threat
Syring said that the
interceptor tested yesterday outpaces the threat to the United States through
2020.
“The intelligence community
gives us a body of evidence about where they think the threat is today and
where it will evolve by 2020. We design tests specifically to incorporate the
attributes of that threat today and what the intelligence community predicts it
will be in say three years,” he added.
The entire test program is
based on intelligence forecasts and projections and where adversaries may be with
respect to reentry vehicle technology, countermeasure technology and
rocket-motor technology, the admiral said.
“And, we seek to replicate
many of those intelligence projections in the tests that we conduct,” he added.
An ongoing program for a
redesigned kill vehicle will be flight-tested by the end of calendar year 2019
and, Syring said, “will be the next step in not only improving reliability but
improving performance against the evolving threat.”
The fiscal 2018 MDA budget
proposal includes a multi-object kill-vehicle program that MDA and industry
partners will begin developing in 2018 and are targeting the 2025 time frame
for that.
“We're in a very good
step-wise progression here of not only increasing reliability but being ahead
of where we believe the threat will go in terms of complexity, countermeasures
and ultimately consideration for capacity down the road,” the admiral added.
Note: The above DoD photo was taken
by Senior Airman Robert J. Volio.
You can click on the above photo to enlarge.
