Aegis missile defense and satellite tracking ICBMs from launch to splashdown

These two articles discuss the current capabilities in the “Missile Defense Initiative”, now know as the “Missile Defense Agency’. It’s doesn’t take a whole lot of imagination to link the conclusions to each other. I had posted this earlier in a thread when it was suggested that US, Russia and China would never go to war because of the nuclear deterrent.

I would like to also point out an interesting thread here at ATS regarding the X51 missile: www.abovetopsecret.com...
The implication that the X51 might be intended for first strike, is what makes it relevant to these following articles. Which would suggest we could be close to becoming immune to retaliation, under such circumstances.

In the first article they talk of the interweaving of missile defense for the Navy ship based system Aegis.
Article #1 (Mar, 21, 2011): blogs.forbes.com...
Specifically:

A key feature of the current plan is to net together Aegis with other overhead and surface-based systems so that the overall architecture not only affords multiple layers of protection, but also maximizes the utility of each element. For instance, once all the sensors are inter-netted, a Standard Missile on the USS Monterey will be able to engage attackers beyond the targeting range of the warship’s radar. By the same token, indications of hostile missile launches picked up by the ship’s radar can be fed into a global tracking system to facilitate intercepts even when the ship’s own missiles are out of range from the threat.

On the second it talks about continuos tracking from launch to splashdown of an ICBM, using satellites which has never been done before. On a side note the first of three missions was classified, with an unknown mission objective.
Article #2 (Mar, 23, 2011): www.msnbc.msn.com...

The Navy and MDA plan to conduct the first Aegis launch-on-remote intercept test next month, for which a forward-based AN/TPY-2 X-band radar will cue the launch of a Standard Missile (SM)-3 interceptor before the target missile is detected by the ship’s radar, MDA budget documents show.

Similarly, the STSS demonstration satellites later this year will attempt to track a target missile and feed data to the Aegis system to generate a “fire control solution” for an early interceptor launch, Young said. However, an interceptor will not actually be launched in that test, he noted.

Nice!
Thanks for the info. S&F.

The sooner the better when it comes it intercepting these bad boys.

I'm surprised not more response to the subject.

Granted I’ll never complain about our country being protected by such horrific threats. And it’s amazing to think Ronald Reagan may have gotten it right all those years ago, that ICBM protection could become a reality. But I do worry about how we may become absolutely incorrigible, when we start plating the game in “god” mode. The nuclear threat although a horrendous concept, did manage to maintain the balance for some time. If this system proves reliable, our nuclear threat becomes much more realistic regardless to what other world powers have stored in their silos.

Thank you Jepic. It's my first thread so I had some worries of breaking etiquette, or just stating something irrelevant. So I'm glad to see a positive response.

Originally posted by Jepic
Nice!

Thanks for the info. S&F.

The sooner the better when it comes it intercepting these bad boys.

So nice inf for sure.

The Arleigh Burke's use RIM-161 SM-3s for missile defence, with a range of about 500km and a ceiling of 160km that speeds along at about 9,600kmh. Ballistic weapons vary greatly in speed, but let's take a Scud B as an example of a short range threat with a burnout speed of about 1.4kps and a Thor as an example of an ICBM with a re-entry speed of about 4.5kps.
Assuming both come through the interception envelope at about 45 degrees targeted on the defending ship, then the Scud is gonna take a leisurely 161 seconds to fall through the 226 or so km of intercept envelope whilst the Thor is gonna take about 50 seconds to cover the same distance.
I don't know about how fast the ships can loft missiles, or how many it can keep in the air at the same time, but I'd be praying for a first shot kill, especially if you believe that it's a nuclear payload dropping towards you at mach 4+. I don't think the interception technology is yet up to dealing with a determined ballistic threat, even if detection technology is.

Note: this is all back of napkin maths using data from wikipedia, so there's quite a margin for error here and the missile data is from intentionally old missiles - Trident apparently has a velocity of about 6kps.

I always maintain that the only way to get rid of the fear of missile attacks once and for all is to come up with missile defense good enough to make ballistic missiles obsolete.

Once the U.S. has that, then they can finally bring the military home.

And when every country has it, no more ballistic missiles anywhere on the planet.

reply to post by aegis80

All very good points:

Regarding launch schedule:
en.wikipedia.org...

The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System (Aegis BMD) is a United States Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency program developed to provide defense against ballistic missiles. It is part of the United States national missile defense strategy. Aegis BMD (also known as Sea-Based Midcourse) is designed to intercept ballistic missiles post-boost phase and prior to reentry.

Regarding number of targets tracked at once:
en.wikipedia.org...

AWS, the heart of Aegis, comprises the AN/SPY-1 Radar, MK 99 Fire Control System, WCS, the Command and Decision Suite, and SM-2 Standard Missile[disambiguation needed] systems. The Aegis Combat System is controlled by an advanced, automatic detect-and-track, multi-function three-dimensional passive electronically scanned array radar, the AN/SPY-1. Known as "the Shield of the Fleet", the SPY high-powered (6 megawatt) radar is able to perform search, tracking, and missile guidance functions simultaneously with a track capacity of well over 100 targets at more than 100 nautical miles (190 km).[2] However the AN/SPY-1 Radar is mounted lower than the AN/SPS-49 radar system and so has a reduced radar horizon.[3]

The Aegis system communicates with the Standard missiles through a radio frequency (RF) uplink using the AN/SPY-1 radar for mid-course guidance of the missile during engagements, but still requires the AN/SPG-62 radar for terminal guidance. This means that with proper scheduling of intercepts, a large number of targets can be engaged simultaneously.

Although with the remote launch idea I have no idea of the capabilities of the remote targeting systems used. The following is from the first article:

blogs.forbes.com...

Raytheon will have to compete with other companies for the right to build the more capable later versions of the Standard Missile, including Aegis integrator Lockheed Martin. However, its baseline version of the interceptor is already quite capable, which is why the Navy will conduct a test this spring to see how it fares against a Trident ballistic missile flying a longer, faster trajectory than the service currently is postured to counter. A series of increasingly demanding flight tests have demonstrated just how versatile the Aegis system is, achieving an 84 percent success rate that far surpasses the performance of other systems in the planned missile defense network.

I think a lot of that will depend on how quickly they respond. From what I gather with the interlaced radar system, and the additional satellite tracking, the missile would be launched well before the attacking missile is within local radar range of the ships radar. So it wouldn’t be in the final drop phase that it’s intercepting at. Shortly after an ICBM launch if it’s within the window of the ICBMs trajectory, it should already be well on it’s way. Probably for the reasons you stated, in which case I’m assuming there would be time for multiple shots at it. The statistic above for 84% is based on the current local radar range restrictions, which is what the plan seeks to remove.

From the second article:
www.msnbc.msn.com...

Another test this year will seek to determine if the STSS satellites can produce missile tracking data good enough to cue the launch of ship-based interceptors, a concept known as launch on remote. Today, Navy Aegis ships are only able to launch interceptors to defeat ballistic missiles after they are detected by the ship’s own radar. If the interceptors can be fired based on cuing from forward-based sensors, the area that each ship can defend from missiles is greatly increased.

Agreed though that 100% when dealing with nukes would be much more favorable. I'm wondering what those other layers could be that they mention?

While it will still make sense to have multiple layers of defense against hostile missiles in which Aegis is only part of the solution, at present it is the part of the solution that looks most cost-effective.

I wonder if they plan to incorporate this laser within the Aegis defense network? And if surface based or satellite deployment is possible? All speculation, but very cool stuff.

From ATS: Airborne Laser Test Bed