India Is Developing Its Own Missile-Defense Shield

A decade later, New Delhi has finally begun setting up a two-layer ballistic missile defense shield that initially will protect New Delhi and Mumbai. The Prithvi Air Defense (PAD) system will provide long-range high-altitude ballistic missile interception during an incoming missile’s midcourse phase, while the Advanced Air Defense system offers short-range, low-altitude defense against missiles in the terminal phase of their trajectory. Reportedly the first batteries have begun installation in two villages in Rajasthan.

At first glance, the Prithvi Air Defense missile seems quite capable, with a range of 1,250 miles and a maximum altitude of 260,000 feet, making it an exospheric interceptor. The missile is programmed prior to launch by the BMD command center on an intercept trajectory, which it maintains using an inertial navigation system. It receives midcourse updates to its trajectory using data from the Swordfish radar, and then in the terminal approach phase switches to its own active radar seeker and destroys the target with a proximity-fused warhead.

For defense at low-altitudes, the solid-fuel Advanced Air Defense system, or Ashwar, uses an endospheric (within the Earth’s atmosphere) interceptor that knocks out ballistic missiles at a maximum altitude of 60,000 to 100,000 feet, and across a range between 90 and 125 miles for local defense. The AAD has performed successfully in most tests against targets at altitudes of 50,000 feet, though an improved model failed a test in April 2015 before succeeding in subsequent attempts. It is claimed the Mach 4.5 missile might also have application against cruise missiles and aircraft.

However, a major limitation of the PAD is that the second phase of the two-stage rocket uses liquid fuel. As liquid rocket fuel corrodes fuel tanks when stored for long, the PAD could not be on standby 24/7. Instead, it would need to be gassed up during a period of crisis in anticipation of trouble. This is less than ideal for a weapon intended to defend against an attack which might come at any moment.

Navy Again Reduces Scope of Destroyer Modernization

Five Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers (DDG-51) will forgo a combat system upgrade that would allow the ships to fight ballistic missile threats as part of a reduction in modernization funding included in the Navy’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 budget that will save the service $500 million over the next five years.

Modernization periods for five Flight IIA Burkes — USS Howard (DDG-83); USSMcCampbell (DDG-85); USS Mustin (DDG-89); USS Chafee (DDG-90); USS Bainbridge(DDG-96) — will not include the Baseline 9C Aegis Combat System series of processing power and software upgrades to bring an Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) capability to the destroyers, according to an unclassified version of the current modernization plan. Instead, the ships will undergo a much more modest upgrade that will focus on hull, mechanical and electrical (HM&E) systems repairs, leaving the ships — all commissioned between 2001 to 2004 — without any ballistic missile defense (BMD) capability. 

Equivalent cuts to the Burke modernization line in the Navy’s Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP) created a knock-on effect for the McCampbell, Mustin, Chafee and Bainbridge modernizations preventing the service from buying long-lead materials for the ships and allowing even a basic BMD capability. Currently, the Navy’s number one priority is the $100 billion design and construction effort for a new nuclear ballistic missile submarine to replace the aging Ohio-class boomers (SSB).

Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) — chairman of the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee — said the reduction in the modernization was shortsighted: “This is just another example of a critical upgrade being deferred by budget cuts. This decision was not strategy-driven, it was budget-driven. Demand for ballistic missile defense capacity and for ships that can be integrated into Navy anti-aircraft battle networks is higher than ever. These kind of decisions ought to be based on what we need for national security, not what we want to spend.”

Aegis: ¿Sabes qué es?

En los últimos meses, los españoles estamos encontrando frecuentes referencias al sistema Aegis en los medios de comunicación. Vamos a tratar en este Post de ofrecer algunas nociones básicas sobre este sistema.

Aegis (del griego αἰγίς, aigís) corresponde a la denominación del componente marítimo del sistema defensivo contra misiles balísticos desarrollado por la MDA (Missile Defense Agency) en cooperación con la US Navy. Lo componen buques de guerra que poseen la capacidad de interceptar y destruir misiles balísticos de corto y medio alcance, lanzados desde posiciones enemigas.

¿Cómo se intercepta un misil enemigo?

La interceptación y destrucción de misiles balísticos es realizada a su vez por otros misiles lanzados desde un buque de guerra. Más concretamente:

• Misiles interceptores SM-3 (Standard Missile 3) para interceptar los misiles balísticos en su fase de vuelo intermedia; esto es, en su fase de vuelo fuera de la atmósfera. Los SM-3 se lanzan desde buques dotados de sistemas MK 41 de lanzamiento vertical, y durante su trayectoria reciben desde el buque datos en tiempo real sobre la posición, velocidad, aceleración y trayectoria del objetivo, cuya destrucción se realiza por pura energía cinética (más de 130 megajulios, para ser más exactos). Algo así como interceptar una bala disparándole otra bala.

• Misiles interceptores SM-2 Block-IV (Standard Missile 2 Block IV) para interceptar los misiles balísticos en su fase de vuelo terminal; esto es, en su fase de vuelo descendente una vez dentro de la atmósfera. La destrucción se realiza gracias a que el misil lleva una cabeza explosiva, que estalla tras interceptar el objetivo, destruyéndolo.

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Rota (Spain): Russia expresses concern

Mikhail Fradkov, head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (Russian: Служба Внешней Разведки Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki or SVR) has already briefed President Putin on the implications of the USS Donald Cook re-positioning in Rota base and US intentions to deploy at least four more ballistic missile defense capable ships in the region.

(Read more)

7th Fleet Ballistic Missile Team Supports JMSDF in Exercise Keen Edge

U.S. 7th Fleet, U.S. Forces Japan and Japan Self Defense Force (JMSDF) operators will hone their Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) skills in exercise Keen Edge 2014 which runs through Jan. 31. "The successful defense of Japanese and U.S. interests from unanticipated ballistic missile threats requires detailed planning, precision ship stationing and lightning quick reactions," said Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Klobukowski, 7th Fleet integrated air and missile defense officer. "BMD is one of the many missions the U.S. and Japan train for together." 

(Read more)

APL Plays Key Role in Sophisticated Naval Ballistic Missile Defense Test

Engineers from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., played an important role in the successful intercept of a separating ballistic missile target with the second-generation Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Weapon System and two SM-3 Block IB guided missiles.

The APL team led system-level performance analysis and evaluation for Flight Test – Standard Missile-21 (FTM-21). This operational test demonstrated the ability to fire a salvo of two SM-3 missiles to successfully engage an incoming ballistic missile target. The flight test was conducted by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and U.S. Navy Sailors aboard the USS Lake Erie (CG 70).

At 2:30 p.m. (HST) on Sept. 18, a ballistic missile target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, on Kauai, Hawaii. Following the target launch, the USS Lake Erie detected and tracked the missile with its onboard AN/SPY-1 radar. The ship's Aegis BMD Weapon System developed a fire control solution and fired a salvo of two SM-3 Block IB guided missiles to engage the target. The SM-3s maneuvered to a point in space and released their kinetic warheads. The kinetic warhead of the first missile acquired the target reentry vehicle, diverted into its path, and — using only the force of a direct impact — destroyed the target.

FTM-21 was the fourth consecutive successful intercept test of the SM-3 Block IB guided missile with the second-generation Aegis BMD Weapon System and SM-3 Block IB guided missile. This flight test improves the Aegis BMD flight test record to 27 successful intercepts in 33 attempts.

As Tensions with West Rise, Moscow Looks to Asia

The various U.S. ballistic missile defense (BMD) initiatives in Europe and elsewhere have been the most immediate source of Russia-West tensions. Although the Obama administration has twice restructured its BMD deployment plans in ways that should have pleased Moscow, Russian officials continue to depict U.S. missile defenses in Europe as threatening Russia’s vast land-based missile arsenal. In the Middle East, Russia has been arguing that diplomacy rather than missile defenses can best moderate Iranian nuclear and missile ambitions. In East Asia, Russian analysts have implied that the United States is using North Korean missile launches to augment its BMD and other military assets in Asia as well as strengthen its alliances with Japan, South Korea, and other countries in ways that could adversely impact Russia’s security. Although Russians recognize that the U.S. missile defenses in California and Alaska are not presently very effective, they profess to fear that the United States could achieve a revolutionary breakthrough that could render the U.S. homeland considerably less vulnerable to Russia’s nuclear deterrent. (Read more)