Closing Velocity

Israeli Arrow II Not Launched In Latest Intercept Test Off CA

Details are sketchy right now, but it appears we have a "D'Oh!"on this joint Israeli-US test:

In a test involving three U.S. missile interceptors, Arrow tracked a target missile dropped from a C-17 aircraft, the Pentagon said in a statement. The Israeli system also exchanged data on the target in real-time with elements of the U.S. missile defense system, the statement said.

"Not all test conditions to launch the Arrow Interceptor were met and it was not launched," the Pentagon said.

The US interceptors "invovled" were a Patriot PAC-3, a THAAD, and the USS Benfold, an Aegis BMD destroyer. It appears that the Israeli Arrow II was the planned shooter and all the other assets were on station to exchange sensor and tracking data, which MDA claims met their objectives, including a simulated intercept by Benfold (PDF of MDA's release here).

Interoperability between our allied systems is very important, so it's not a total wash. I would like to know why the Arrow II stayed in its launcher, though.

Note To Self: Wipe Your Hard Drive

SMRT!

One disk bought on eBay contained details of test launch procedures for the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) ground to air missile defense system, last used to shoot down Scud missiles in Iraq and tested again in March this year in response to North Korea's satellite launch. The missile system is designed to destroy long-range intercontinental missiles launched by terrorists or 'rogue states'.

The disk also contained security policies, blueprints and employee data from Lockheed Martin - the company responsible for THAAD.

DSP Missile-Warning Satellite Goes Dark

Responsible for melodramatic over-acting opportunities in countless movies, Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites are our first "trip wire" alert for hostile ballistic missile launch. Parked in geosynchronous orbit, DSP birds look down with their big infrared eyes and pick out the hot plume of missiles as they leave the pad, silo, mobile launcher or submarine.

Indeed, in the real world --- according to this heavily redacted, formerly-Secret-now-Unclassified 1991 report --- DSPs provided crucial Iraqi Scud launch alerts to cities in Israel and Saudi Arabia and Patriot missile defense batteries during Desert Storm. (Ahhh nostalgia. Fielded and launched Iraqi WMDs? Good thing we don't have to worry about those any more). More recently, DSPs watched the spectacular failure of an attempted Iranian "space" launch and have been hooked in to Israel's own nascent missile defense system.

Well now we have one less DSP satellite:

A Northrop Grumman Corp U.S. military satellite used to track enemy missiles stopped working in mid-September, underscoring the urgent need to keep a program for replacement satellites on track, a defense official and several analysts said on Monday.

What happened? Cue forboding music and the "In a world..." movie trailer voiceover guy:

Japanese BMD Test Fails To Intercept

I always try to take a good news/bad news approach to set-backs like this:

A Japanese navy ship on Wednesday failed to shoot down a mid-range ballistic missile target in a test off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency announced.

Rear Adm. Brad Hicks, director of the U.S. Aegis ballistic missile defense program, attributed the failure to an unidentified problem aboard an interceptor missile fired from the Japanese destroyer JS Chokai.

Bad News? It was a miss. D'oh.

Good News?

1.  The miss was attributed to a glitch in the SM-3 interceptor missile in the final seconds of the engagement. The overall Aegis system (radar, fire control, etc.) onboard the Chokai performed as expected.

2.  It's Japan's first BMD miss; last year, the JS Kongo was the first non-US Aegis ship to successfully intercept a ballistic missile.

3.  The test cost about 5 billion yen, not $55 million. Japan paid for the test, not us.

Aegis now has a record of 16 out of 20 successful intercepts.