Quote:08-NEWS-0068
June 5, 2008
Successful Sea-Based Missile Defense Intercept
Air Force Lieutenant General Henry "Trey" Obering III, Missile Defense Agency (MDA) director, announced
the successful completion of the latest flight test of the sea-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD)
element, conducted jointly with the U.S. Navy off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii. The event, designated as Flight
Test Maritime-14 (FTM-14), marked the fourteenth overall successful intercept, in sixteen attempts, for the
Aegis BMD program and the second successful intercept of a terminal phase (last few seconds of flight) target
by a modified Standard Missile - 2 Block IV (SM-2 Blk IV) interceptor. The mission was completed by the
cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70), using the tactically-certified Aegis BMD shipboard weapon system, modified
for a terminal capability, and the modified SM-2 Blk IV. This is the 35th successful terminal and midcourse
defense intercept in 43 tests since 2001.
Aegis BMD is the sea-based mid-course component of the MDA's Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS)
and is designed to intercept and destroy short to intermediate-range ballistic missile threats. In 2006, the
program's role was expanded to include a sea-based terminal defense effort, using a modified version of the
SM-2 Blk IV. Unlike other missile defense technologies now deployed or in development, the SM-2 Blk IV
does not use "hit to kill" technology (directly colliding with the target) to destroy the target missile. Rather, it
uses a blast fragmentation device that explodes in direct proximity to the target to complete the intercept and
destroy the target.
At 8:13 a.m. Hawaii Standard Time (2:13 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) a short range target was launched
from a mobile launch platform 300 miles west of the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), Barking Sands,
Kauai, Hawaii. Moments later, the USS Lake Erie’s Aegis BMD Weapon System detected and tracked the
target and developed fire control solutions.
Approximately four minutes later, the USS Lake Erie’s crew fired two SM-2 Blk IV missiles, and two minutes
later they successfully intercepted the target inside the earth's atmosphere, about 12 miles above the Pacific
Ocean and about 100 miles west-northwest of Kauai.
FTM-14 test objectives included evaluation of: the BMDS ability to intercept and kill a short range ballistic
missile target with the Aegis BMD, modified with the terminal mission capability; the modified SM-2 Blk IV
missile using SPY-1 cue; and system-level integration of the BMDS.
MDA and the U.S. Navy cooperatively manage the Aegis BMD Program. Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems
and Sensors of Moorestown, New Jersey is the Combat System Engineering Agent and prime contractor for
the Aegis BMD Weapon System and Vertical Launch System installed in Aegis equipped cruisers and
destroyers. Raytheon Missile Systems of Tucson, Arizona is the prime contractor for the SM-2 and SM-3
missile and all previous variants of Standard Missile. The SM-2 program is managed by the Naval Sea
Systems Command, Washington, D.C.
"Korea has not been the only battle ground since the end of the Second World War. Men have fought and died in Malaya, in Greece, in the Philippines, in Algeria and Cuba, and Cyprus and almost continuously on the Indo-Chinese Peninsula. No nuclear weapons have been fired. No massive nuclear retaliation has been considered appropriate. This is another type of war, new in its intensity, ancient in its origin--war by guerrillas, subversives, insurgents, assassins, war by ambush instead of by combat; by infiltration, instead of aggression, seeking victory by eroding and exhausting the enemy instead of engaging him. It is a form of warfare uniquely adapted to what has been strangely called 'wars of liberation,' to undermine the efforts of new and poor countries to maintain the freedom that they have finally achieved. It preys on economic unrest and ethnic conflicts. It requires in those situations where we must counter it, and these are the kinds of challenges that will be before us in the next decade if freedom is to be saved, a whole new kind of strategy, a wholly different kind of force, and therefore a new and wholly different kind of military training."-President Kennedy's Address at Graduation Exercises of the U.S. Military Academy, 1962
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"The reason I'll be released is the same reason you think I'll be convicted. I do rub shoulders with some of the most vile, sadistic men calling themselves leaders today. But some of these men are the enemies of your enemies. And while the biggest arms dealer in the world is your boss - the President of the United States, who ships more merchandise in a day than I do in a year - sometimes it's embarrassing to have his fingerprints on the guns. Sometimes he needs a freelancer like me to supply forces he can't be seen supplying. So. You call me evil, but unfortunately for you, I'm a necessary evil."-Yuri Orlov, Lord of War
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"Of all the weapons in the vast soviet arsenal, nothing was more profitable than Avtomat Kalashnikova model of 1947. More commonly known as the AK-47, or Kalashnikov. It's the world's most popular assault rifle. A weapon all fighters love. An elegantly simple 9 pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood. It doesn't break, jam, or overheat. It'll shoot whether it's covered in mud or filled with sand. It's so easy, even a child can use it; and they do. The Soviets put the gun on a coin. Mozambique put it on their flag. Since the end of the Cold War, the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists. One thing is for sure, no one was lining up to buy their cars."-Yuri Orlov, Lord of War
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It is good to see that while many tried to stop ABM programs after President Reagan left office. The Navy was able to keep their program going because the base for their missiles are ships at sea.
Adrian
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