BMD Watch: Test boosts tracking radars

WASHINGTON, July 22 (UPI) -- The U.S. Missile Defense Agency Friday carried out what it described as a successful systems test to track an intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with countermeasures with several advanced radars.

The target ICBM was fired from Kodiak, Alaska, and was then located and monitored by different tracking systems on land, at sea and on orbiting satellites. They then "provided data to the missile defense system's Command, Control, Battle Management and Communications -- C2BMC -- system, and also to the Ground-based Mid-course Defense fire control system in Colorado Springs, Colo., to support a simulated interceptor missile engagement," the MDA said in a statement Friday.

The MDA said that among the systems involved were a movable AN/TPY-2 X-band radar based in Juneau, Alaska; a U.S. Navy Aegis destroyer carrying a SPY-1 radar system; an early warning radar operating from Beale Air Force Base in California; and the Sea-Based X-band radar on its gigantic towable floating platform in the Pacific.

The MDA statement described the test as "the most challenging flight test of the missile defense system's command and control software to date." During the test, defense systems analyzed data coming in from several different radar sources at the same time to produce an "engagement solution" that would have provided the necessary data for a Ground-based Mid-course Interceptor to hit and destroy the ICBM, the agency said.

Target tracking data gathered by the different radars was sent to the Ground-based Mid-course Defense fire control system at the Missile Defense Integration and Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., the MDA said.

The system produced in real time an intercept solution, even though the ICBM could only be tracked in the planned intercept area for a shorter period of time than had been anticipated, the MDA said. Then operational crews at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California practiced the simulated launch of a GBI.

At the same time, the same tracking information was transmitted to the U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, where a second intercept solution was produced for a Standard Missile-3 that would have been launched from an Aegis-class U.S. Navy warship. The SM-3 would have been fired on receipt of the correct launching time from the AN/TPY-2 radar based in Juneau, the agency said.

The MDA said the relevant operational test agencies U.S. Northern Command, U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. Strategic Command all took part in the exercise.

Analysts said the test was of importance for several reasons: It was the first successful integration of four radars to send crucial tracking data to provide an intercept solution in real time and it also marked a step forward in boosting ballistic missile defense technology to see through the countermeasures with which Russia in particular is equipping its latest generation of ICBMs.

"This achievement affirms the current technology to track and discriminate a warhead with countermeasures and decoys of future ballistic missile configurations," said Riki Ellison, president of the Missile Defense Advocacy Association.

Boeing announces beam control for mobile laser

Boeing said in a statement Monday it had produced a preliminary design for its rugged beam control system for the U.S. Army's High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator program.

Boeing said the project was completed as part of the HEL TD Phase I contract that it won in 2007 to produce a beam control system design that could be used on a truck-mounted laser.

The company noted the goal of the HEL TD project was to prove the effectiveness of a mobile, solid-state laser weapon system as a defense against rocket, artillery and mortar bombardments. If the HEL TD project proves successful, the U.S. Army is expected to give the go-ahead for a full project to produce a laser defense system for operational use.

"HEL TD is a cornerstone of the Army's high-energy laser program, and this successful completion of the preliminary design is an important step in developing a weapon system that can change the face of the battlefield," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems.

"While rocket, artillery and mortar projectiles have traditionally been difficult threats to defeat, HEL TD's speed-of-light, ultra-precision capability will meet the war fighter's needs in this vital mission area," said Gary Fitzmire, vice president and program director of Boeing Directed Energy Systems.

Boeing said if the initial HEL TD project proved successful, the contract for it included options for the company "to build, integrate and test the beam control system equipped with a command-and-control system on an Army tactical military vehicle, as well as develop the system-engineering requirements for the entire HEL TD system."

Boeing noted it was already working on a variety of laser systems for ABM defense and other functions such as the Airborne Laser, the Advanced Tactical Laser, the Tactical Relay Mirror System and the Laser Avenger.