Closing Velocity

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:

MDA Receives Joint Meritorious Unit Award

Citing its role in the successful shootdown of that toxic spy satellite this past February, the Department of Defense awarded the Missile Defense Agency the Joint Meritorious Unit Award (pdf):

The citation accompanying the award stated that “In an effort to minimize debris hazards in space, aircraft and the populace,” the citation continued, “countless hours of analysis were required to determine the feasibility of engagement and select the optimal location and altitude.” A multitude of military, civilian and contractor personnel, with the MDA, Defense Department, the U.S. Navy and associated industry and academia, came together and within a six week period, planned and executed the Presidential directive to bring down the errant satellite.

All of my firm's engineers and analysts were part of the 24x7 shifts in the government labs during the lead up to the shootdown. A hearty congratulations to them and the warfighters we support.

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(Originally posted at Perfunction; original comment threads are over there)

Spy Sat Sharpshooter Apparently Now On The Front Lines

Very interesting news on that spectacular Iranian satellite launch failure:

Iran's flight test of a space launch vehicle failed Aug. 17, according to radar tracking by a U.S. Navy destroyer and infrared data from U.S. Air Force Defense Support Program (DSP) missile warning spacecraft.

Key data on the failure were provided by the USS Russell, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer patrolling the Persian Gulf.

Other U.S. intelligence assets gave the Russell and missile warning satellite system advanced notice of the test, enabling extra preparation for tracking its outcome.

The Russell also was one of three destroyers involved in the final radar tracking of the derelict National Reconnaissance Office USA 193 intelligence satellite that was destroyed by a Standard Missile-3 fired by another destroyer in the Persian Gulf group.

So our toxic spy sat was "destroyed by a Standard Missile-3 fired by another destroyer in the Persian Gulf group"?

Not to get all loose-lips-sink-ships on AviationWeek (or worse, the Navy press relations flack that gave AW all this info) but, er, loose lips can indeed sink ships, dumbasses!

Though unnamed in the article, the spy sat shooter can be readily identified by anyone with a passing interest in missile defense and Simple Jack Google skills --- and no, I'm not ratting out the name of our most experienced missile defense ship and crew which is now apparently deployed in a WARZONE and no, the pic above is not that ship (that's the USS Cole up there).

I'll report on the loose lips of AW/Navy, but you'll find no additional info here. Beware of the comment section, though...

Now that it's public knowledge (thanks again, AW!), I suppose it's heartening to know that this exceptional boat is Where It Needs To Be.

And to end on a good note, it's great news that we got to give our DSP early warning satellites a live-fire workout. These are the birds that give us the tripwire alert for ballistic missile launches:

More than one DSP is used to monitor that region of the Middle East and it is likely data from the Iranian launch obtained from at least two DSPs are being analyzed. U.S. signal intelligence and imaging spacecraft also monitored preparations for the launch.

It's one thing to test our DSP's by tracking our own target missiles during flight tests, quite another to get the rare opportunity to track actual enemy hardware launched from enemy territory. Nice. That'll come in handy when they really start throwing heavy stuff.

(h/t: result of a long link trail from a headline at Ace's)

UPDATE: Instalanche! (thanks, Glenn).  Also, thanks Greyhawk at MilBlogs.

Several commenters have said that perhaps the Navy's lips are loose for a reason, i.e. we're sending a loud message to the Iranians and Russians. While I certainly appreciate the value of gunboat diplomacy, I was surprised that the Navy would publicly disclose the perilous location of one of our most uniquely trained crews. Yes, there are several Aegis-equipped ships at sea, but none have the missile intercept trackrecord of this ship. And again, maybe that's the whole point of the leak.

Anyway, my own security clearance is too valuable to discard over a little blog post, but you commenters are free to pontificate. I'm just glad several components of our ballistic missile defense system (BMDS) got an unscripted drill. Thanks for the exercise, Mahmoud.

PS: Obligatory posters.

UPDATE: Web managing editor of AviationWeek.com, Christopher Fotos responds in the comment section:

After following the link from InstaGlenn I, too, thought you were referring to the mere identity of the [ship], whose role in the shootdown is so well known as to have been explained in detail by its commanding officer. But now that I understand what you're saying, I still don't see a problem. When I was running my now-retired PostWatch blog, I complained about occasions when the Post and other media recklessly disclosed defense secrets. But I don't think this is a good example of that, for reasons already covered by other commenters.

I'm giving the benefit of the doubt to the Big Stickers here --- the US wanted this info out there. But the tactician in me can't help but cringe at the worst-case scenario, an asymmetric and/or Silkworm attack on what is essentially our current BMDS flagship:

Of course, Aegis ships were originally designed for fleet defense, popping anti-ship missiles bound for the supercarriers, so Iranian Silkworms shouldn't be an issue. Still, the USS Cole is an Aegis boat...

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(Originally posted at Perfunction; original comment threads are over there)

Hope: Obama's Preferred Missile Shield

Juxtaposed against a banner year in missile defense capped by the spectacular and extremely PR-friendly spy satellie shootdown, this newly-found Barack Obama video is absolutely radioactive to his Commander-in-Chief ambitions:

(h/t: Ace)

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(Originally posted at Perfunction; original comment threads are over there)

Missile Defense: Primetime

Bullseye, baby:

Destroying the satellite's onboard tank of about 1,000 pounds of hydrazine fuel was the primary goal, and a senior defense official close to the mission said Thursday that it appears the tank was destroyed, and the strike with a specially designed missile was a complete success.

Here's the Pentagon briefing from this morning with video of the intercept (1:00 minute in). As General Cartwright says, "We have a fireball.":

As most of you know, missile shield opponents have had a litany of defeatist talking points about the program since its inception as the Strategic Defense Initiative under Reagan:

1. Missile defense technology is unproven. It can never work. We suck.
2. OK, OK, even if you get it to "work" the "tests" are highly scripted. We always know the what, when, where, and how of every attempted shot. Scientific method? Shut up, scripter.
3. Oh and by the way, until you can prove it "works," we're not going to fully fund it. Figure that one out, rocket scientist.
4. So you somehow got it "working" with no "money" ---- big deal, doesn't matter. The threat is minimal, therefore the need to mitigate it isn't worth those billions. You're building a 21st century Maginot Line.

Each point has been thoroughly trashed with this emergency defensive operation. Geopolitical bonus points for proving our defensive capabilities to North Korea, Iran and others. Even more bonus points for giving China the finger when it comes to our new, ancillary anti-satellite prowess.

With this slamdunk live-fire operation, the Missile Defense Agency (of which I am a contractor) deserves thunderous kudos. I've blogged about various missile defense successes over the past year, but this shootdown really caps what is unquestionably the best year of the program since inception (PDF):

• Total of 9 successful flight tests & intercepts
• 5 sea-based Aegis intercepts, 4 ground-based intercepts (THAAD & GMD)
• First simultaneous double intercept (2 targets, 2 interceptors)
• First non-US intercept (Japanese Aegis cruiser Kongo)
• Actual birds in the ground: 21 interceptors fielded at Ft. Greely, Alaska, 3 interceptors in the hole at Vandenberg, California. Another 21 SM-3 missiles deployed at sea.

Hopefully this track record of scientific achievement and military capability will finally be enough to quiet the naysayers. With likely Democrat victories this fall, the program surely would have been gutted like it was in the 1990's (imagine how much further along we'd be today...). But now, that's a little less likely.

And as Michael Goldfarb says:

The "rogue" satellite cost more than a billion dollars. One suspects its destruction will be of greater value to this country than any mission it could have performed as a functioning spy satellite.

Thanks for the target, National Recon Office! And a hearty congratulations to everyone involved.

UPDATE: Welcome, HotAir. I'm in a fantastic mood, so here's my favorite missile gag (again!). Heh, Ace says I'm a rocket scientist --- NOT! Just the son of one (I'm a non-tech exec).

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(Originally posted at Perfunction; original comment threads are over there)