10/25/12 Ballistic Missile Defense System Engages Five Targets Simultaneously

Seems like they are ready for business...

www.mda.mil...

www.mda.mil...

12-NEWS-0011
October 25, 2012

Ballistic Missile Defense System Engages Five Targets Simultaneously During Largest Missile Defense Flight Test in History
The 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.

(Govt doc, so I posted the entire thing)

reply to post by FlyingFox


I bet that if WWIII does start then THAAD and the other integrated missile defense systems will be a ground-pounders best friend.

It really does ruin your day if that tactical nuke makes it through to your area

I bet they should start gaming with even more missiles now, as I think that in a real war against the Eurasian power bloc that missile strikes will be carried out with an overwhelming alpha strike in mind to try to overwhelm the defenses.

Originally posted by Mkoll
reply to post by FlyingFox

 

I bet that if WWIII does start then THAAD and the other integrated missile defense systems will be a ground-pounders best friend.

It really does ruin your day if that tactical nuke makes it through to your area

I bet they should start gaming with even more missiles now, as I think that in a real war against the Eurasian power bloc that missile strikes will be carried out with an overwhelming alpha strike in mind to try to overwhelm the defenses.

edit on 25-10-2012 by Mkoll because: (no reason given)

Have you seen the pics? Aliens and alien tech was OBVIOUSLY involved, they even left a calling card of sorts.
www.mda.mil...

reply to post by steppenwolf86


Hahahaha good one! I saw that one too and wondered how a missile defense test could make that shape of an explosion... I do wonder if this is their best tech. It says they missed one, right? There was no indication that it reached the ballistic missile. And they got 50-something hits out of 70-something tests. That looks pretty vulnerable to me. But then so is everyone else then, right? It's a Mexican Standoff.

reply to post by 3n19m470


Fifty-six of seventy-one means that only a very small number of targets gets hit. It sucks if you're at one of them, but it's a hell of a lot better that seventy-one targets being hit.

The aegis system is very effective, more effective than all the others.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by 3n19m470

 

Fifty-six of seventy-one means that only a very small number of targets gets hit. It sucks if you're at one of them, but it's a hell of a lot better that seventy-one targets being hit.

The aegis system is very effective, more effective than all the others.

One has to wonder if we will ever fully counter a country with an arsenal the likes of the Russians. Then again, even if the test did hit all 71, I have a hard time believing that information would be released because it would be poking that big old Russian bear pretty hard.

What is very reassuring though is the thought of a system like this going up against a country with primitive missiles and very few warheads. In other words, Iran or North Korea, who do not even have the means to hit the US at the moment. Such a country/regime is a thousand times more likely to actually use WMD.

Originally posted by steppenwolf86

Originally posted by Mkoll
reply to post by FlyingFox

 

I bet that if WWIII does start then THAAD and the other integrated missile defense systems will be a ground-pounders best friend.

It really does ruin your day if that tactical nuke makes it through to your area

I bet they should start gaming with even more missiles now, as I think that in a real war against the Eurasian power bloc that missile strikes will be carried out with an overwhelming alpha strike in mind to try to overwhelm the defenses.

edit on 25-10-2012 by Mkoll because: (no reason given)

Have you seen the pics? Aliens and alien tech was OBVIOUSLY involved, they even left a calling card of sorts.
www.mda.mil...

Sorry no Aliens and alien tech.

That is a Continuous Expanding Rod Warhead going off while moving forward at high speed


www.okieboat.com...

This was where the Continuous Expanding Rod Warhead test photo was taken
35° 42.00' 15" N 117° 38.38' 01" W
It may have been one of the photos i took when i worked there as a high speed camera operator.

Originally posted by ANNED

Originally posted by steppenwolf86

Originally posted by Mkoll
reply to post by FlyingFox

 

I bet that if WWIII does start then THAAD and the other integrated missile defense systems will be a ground-pounders best friend.

It really does ruin your day if that tactical nuke makes it through to your area

I bet they should start gaming with even more missiles now, as I think that in a real war against the Eurasian power bloc that missile strikes will be carried out with an overwhelming alpha strike in mind to try to overwhelm the defenses.

edit on 25-10-2012 by Mkoll because: (no reason given)

Have you seen the pics? Aliens and alien tech was OBVIOUSLY involved, they even left a calling card of sorts.
www.mda.mil...

Sorry no Aliens and alien tech.

That is a Continuous Expanding Rod Warhead going off while moving forward at high speed


www.okieboat.com...

This was where the Continuous Expanding Rod Warhead test photo was taken
35° 42.00' 15" N 117° 38.38' 01" W
It may have been one of the photos i took when i worked there as a high speed camera operator.

I was being sarcastic because the pic looked like an alien head...

i kept putting off seeing this....

because of this topic, finally digging it up and ready to watch

THAAD can't stop a warhead coming in with +1,000 depleted sub-munitions in it coming at you.

More than likely those are the first type of warheads you'd see coming in along with hundreds of decoys. Objective, take out all missile defense sites, power production, fuel cells, and aircraft sitting on your parking spots.

THAAD was a wrong direction they went for defense. We could have 5 Space Shuttles sitting in orbit with nuclear reactors in the cargobays with frekin lasers/particle beam weapons parked in permanent deep orbit unmanned. Instead we wasted them for static displays.

reply to post by Zaphod58


They will be shooting everything that they got at those heading for Washington and the capitals of the states. If it is heading to your hometown, it will always make it.

We could have 5 Space Shuttles sitting in orbit with nuclear reactors in the cargobays with frekin lasers/particle beam weapons parked in permanent deep orbit unmanned. Instead we wasted them for static displays.

reply to post by Pervius


None of that is accurate or feasible in any way.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by 3n19m470

 

Fifty-six of seventy-one means that only a very small number of targets gets hit. It sucks if you're at one of them, but it's a hell of a lot better that seventy-one targets being hit.

The aegis system is very effective, more effective than all the others.

The problem is torpedos. They're much more destructive than most missiles.

A modern torpedo hit = sinking of nearly any ship, and disabling 100%. A disabled carrier is a burning nuclear reactor.

www.youtube.com...

Heres a carrier taking missile hits, direct bombs, harpoons, then a torpedo.

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by mbkennel


The LPH/LHD/LHA classes can't take as much damage as a CVN though. And they're all conventional. During the sinking of the Oriskany, they had to place 22 500 lb C4 charges on sea pipes, and machinery spaces. And it still took her 37 minutes to sink. Again, a conventional carrier.

The America survived four weeks of weapons testing before they deliberately sank her. She was a Kitty Hawk class ship. A Nimitz will take a lot of punishment before she is taken out by a torpedo. The America was hit by simulated torpedoes, missiles, bombs, and possible small boats. Explosives were detonated above the waterline, and below the surface.

The Aegis SM-3 has been redesigned with a High Power, Long Burn new Solid Rocket Propellant. The SM-3 is our current and TRUE real defense against any Nuclear ICBM.

This will be augmented by the FEL or Free Electron Laser which will be installed in every U.S. Carrier as well as Aegis Cruiser. Only then will we have a World Wide Missile Defense Net.

Split Infinity

This is going to sound either cold-blooded, or insane (I've been accused of both). Beyond that, my standard disclaimers apply. I have no access to classified information, and no input on defense policy...this is simply the opinion of an interested citizen (and, since my macaw is sitting on my shoulder proofreading, an interested psittacine ).

Every time the discussion of ballistic missile defense comes up, the argument is made that if you can't stop every single inbound warhead, the system is worthless. If you think about it for a bit, though, the exact opposite is true. Counter-intuitive, I know, but let's look at an abstract case. Country A and Country B are nuclear powers with substantial arsenals. If B finds out that A has a perfect defense against nuclear attack, there will be a huge pressure to launch an attack before the defense system is deployed. After all, once it's in place, B will be completely at the mercy of A...and there's no guarantee that A *has* any mercy. Thus, a perfect defense, paradoxically, is a strong de-stabilizing force.

At the other end of the scale, a defense that stops nothing is a total waste of money and resources...also unacceptable.

What's needed (if not politically or socially acceptable) is a defense that is good enough to make any attack unreliable, while still leaving the target country vulnerable to some damage (avoiding the destabilization issue mentioned above. The threshold for this can be surprisingly low...after all, if a defensive system only stops (as a totally "out of my anatomy" number) 40% of an incoming strike, that makes the attack very unlikely, since the attacker can't know in advance *which* 40% of his missiles will be stopped. He might hit all of his 'counter-value' targets (cities), but be facing an almost totally untouched retaliatory strike...or he might hit all of his counter-force targets, but inflict (relatively) small civilian casualties...but whatever happens will be totally unpredictable. The same argument (in reverse) holds from the defended country's perspective...the missiles that get stopped might be the ones heading for cities, or the ones headed for the missiles...but since the results aren't predictable, there isn't the destabilizing 'total certainty' condition. In short, by making a nuclear attack a course of action with no certain outcome, an imperfect but adequate defense makes it a total non-starter.

Given what I've seen / heard about this current round of testing, it seems that 'imperfect but adequate' is within our (technical) grasp once again. Hopefully, this time, we'll be smarter than we were with Safeguard.