Now That’s a Kill
Forwarded to me from my contractor contact with the MDA:
he Missile Defense Agency (MDA), U.S. Army soldiers from the 94th and 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command (AAMDC); U.S. Navy sailors aboard the USS FITZGERALD (DDG 62); and airmen from the 613th Air and Space Operations Center successfully conducted the largest, most complex missile defense flight test ever attempted resulting in the simultaneous engagement of five ballistic missile and cruise missile targets. An integrated air and ballistic missile defense architecture used multiple sensors and missile defense systems to engage multiple targets at the same time. All targets were successfully launched and initial indications are that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system successfully intercepted its first Medium Range Ballistic target in history, and PATRIOT Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) near simultaneously destroyed a Short Range Ballistic Missile and a low flying cruise missile target over water.
The live-fire demonstration, conducted at U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll/Reagan Test Site, Hickam AFB, and surrounding areas in the western Pacific, stressed the performance of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD), THAAD, and PATRIOT weapon systems.
An Extended Long Range Air Launch Target (E-LRALT) missile was airdropped over the broad ocean area north of Wake Island from a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft, staged from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. The AN/TPY-2 X-band radar, located with the THAAD system on Meck Island, tracked the E-LRALT and a THAAD interceptor successfully intercepted the Medium-Range Ballistic Missile. THAAD was operated by Soldiers from the 32nd AAMDC.
Another short-range ballistic missile was launched from a mobile launch platform located in the broad ocean area northeast of Kwajalein Atoll. The PATRIOT system, manned by soldiers of the 94th AAMDC, detected, tracked and successfully intercepted the target with a PAC-3 interceptor.
The USS FITZGERALD successfully engaged a low flying cruise missile over water. The Aegis system also tracked and launched an SM-3 Block 1A interceptor against a Short-Range Ballistic Missile. However, despite indication of a nominal flight of the SM-3 Block 1A interceptor, there was no indication of an intercept of the SRBM.
FTI-01 was a combined developmental and operational test. Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen from multiple Combatant Commands operated the systems and were provided a unique opportunity to refine operational doctrine and tactics. Program officials continue to assess and evaluate system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during the test.
Ballistic Missile Defense System programs have completed 56 successful hit-to-kill intercepts in 71 flight test attempts since 2001.
Well done. I know how much extra time this test took, and how much longer a bunch of people had to stay away from their families and homes. So thanks to all of you, too.
I remember when Regan was derided as a fool and an idiot for proposing that the US should build a missile defense system. Huh. Guess you can hit a bullet w/ another bullet.
My first thought exactly!
It’s also interesting to me that so many people forget that Reagan pulled us out of the economic mess of the day by increasing the deficit. His tax cuts and simultaneous increase in defense spending were textbook government stimulus on both sides of the ledger. Too bad so many folks on both sides of the aisle seem to forget that.
Reminds me of Zappa’s “Star Wars Won’t Work” song, which completely missed the point by saying that since in theory a germ bomb not on an ICBM could get through, plainly it was worthless.
Frank never should have talked about geopolitics. Or any politics.
(Just as someone might say “only 56 out of 71 hits? Worthless!”.
Missing the point that even if the final system was only that good, that’s enough to make a single-strike option from a state like North Korea or Iran into a completely losing proposition, and thus deter such actors from even trying.
Yeah, it wouldn’t stop an all-out-every-missile strike from Russia from ruining our day – but that’s not the primary threat. And even then it’d make the Russians think real hard about it, even if they were feeling suicidal and belligerent.)
“…that’s enough to make a single-strike option from a state like North Korea or Iran into a completely losing proposition, and thus deter such actors from even trying.”
Assuming that the holders of the levers of power in these places can be held to be rational actors with an interest in self-preservation. Not so sure that that’s the smart bet with folk like Ahmadi-Nejad and Kim Jong Next.
You’re welcome – our Task Force of over 100 Soldiers were here supporting this test for a couple months. It was a great success and we all look forward to heading back home to our families.