AMERICA MAKES: el DESAFIO de la CASA BLANCA

America Makes -principal asociación público-privada norteamericana para el desarrollo de la fabricación aditiva- ha celebrado su evento anual Technical Review & Exchange (TRX) del 18 al 19 de octubre en la University of Alabama in Huntsville.

El evento brindó a los asistentes la oportunidad de compartir contenido a un nivel profundo y conocer los proyectos actuales que están ayudando a avanzar en el desarrollo de la manufactura aditiva. Entre los ponentes estuvieron importantes figuras del AFRL, la MDA y la NASA.

la University of Alabama in Huntsville está considerada como el principal centro de fabricación del Pentágono en el estado de Alabama, y por ello no fue de extrañar que asistiesen varios funcionarios gubernamentales de alto nivel para debatir sobre los desafíos del ejército para adoptar la fabricación aditiva, aportando algunas presentaciones muy interesantes acerca de ciertas aplicaciones, tales como:

• Fabricación aditiva de boquillas Mach
• Fabricación aditiva para enfriadores de aceite híbridos
• Fabricación aditiva de componentes para motores de cohetes

En esta edición del TRX los organizadores optaron por un formato más conversacional y flexible que en ediciones anteriores, lo cual permitió a los asistentes interactuar de manera más fluida con los presentadores.

MDA seeks laser-armed HALE UAV for counter-ICBM role

The United States is looking to field a laser-armed UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) to intercept ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) towards the middle of the next decade, the MDA (Missile Defense Agency) disclosed on 13 June.

(Read more)

El sistema defensivo antimisiles, "insostenible"

Según ha afirmado en fechas recientes Kenneth Todorov, actual Director General Adjunto de la Agencia de Defensa Antimisiles, la estrategia antimisiles americana es "insostenible". Y es que a juicio de este militar, Estados Unidos no puede seguir eternamente confiando en los interceptores: "No podemos estar constantemente gastando miles de millones de dólares en interceptores para derribar los eternamente crecientes arsenales de nuestros enemigos. Tenemos que encontrar una mejor solución, ya sea basada en lasers, inhibidores, o cualquier otra cosa. En otras palabras, la MDA debe gastar menos en interceptores terrestres y gastar más en I+D."

Spears and Shields: A brief look

America’s National Intelligence Council said in 1999 that China and Russia had devised numerous countermeasures to protect offensive missiles and were probably willing to sell the technology.

A statement in May by the office of the assistant secretary of defence for research and engineering noted that the proliferation of such advanced countermeasures was rendering America’s missile defences “no longer practical or cost-effective”.

Among nuclear powers, neither North Korea nor Pakistan is presently capable of building a ballistic-missile triggering system that is able to detonate a nuclear payload if an interceptor was drawing near. But with time and enough effort, this could change: At least one type of nuclear device detonated by North Korea “is not inconsistent” with efforts to build a bomb designed for an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) attack. Effects of a EMP depend on factors including the altitude of the detonation, energy yield, gamma ray output, interactions with the Earth's magnetic field and electromagnetic shielding of targets, but in any case rapidly changing electric fields and magnetic fields may couple with electrical/electronic systems to produce damaging current and voltage surges. The threat grows as potential attackers continue to acquire “more complex, survivable, reliable and accurate” ICBMs equipped with countermeasures

Land- and Sea-Based Spears: ICBMs

The trajectory of an ICBM runs in three consecutive phases: Atmosphere-Space-Atmosphere. The first phase is the "easyest" one in order to incercept the ICBM, so it is neccesary to place interceptors close enough to reach the missile before it leaves the atmosphere... But it is not easy, indeed. Ronald Reagan hoped to put interception satellites into low orbit, but the “Star Wars” scheme, as it was known, presented three main handicaps:

1. It would have required a lot satellites costing billions of dollars.
2. Satellites could be shot up with missiles
3. Satellites could be blinded with lasers

Space-Based Spears: Satellites

• In December 2012 North Korea launched a satellite on a southerly track. The launch reveals a vulnerability in missile defences which could be exploited for an EMP attack.
• A nuclear device fitted into a subsequent southerly launched satellite would circumvent America’s defences against long-range weapons because these are positioned to hit warheads flying from over the North Pole, not those coming from the south.
• A nuke concealed in a satellite in an orbit used by many civilian satellites could be detonated on a flyover above America. There is no point in having a missile-defence system that cannot prevent such an attack.

Air-Based Shields: Lasers and interceptors

• MDA believes that aircraft-mounted anti-missile Solid-state lasers may “play a crucial role” in defeating ICBMs during the boost phase. Experiments have begun with General Atomics’ Reaper and Boeing’s Phantom Eye drones.
• Dale Tietz, a former senior Star Wars official, says that North Korean missiles could be prevented from reaching space by just three interceptor-armed Global Hawk UAVs.

Sea-Based Shields: Aegis

• 30 of America’s warships carry Aegis anti-missile systems, but these were designed to strike shorter-range missiles.
• With recent upgrades, Aegis is thought to be capable of intercepting warheads in space, in limited circumstances.
• With additional radar near America’s east coast, Aegis destroyers in the Atlantic could theoretically intercept ICBMs coming from Europe and Asia.

Ground-Based Shields: GMD

• The GMD system consists of an “exoatmospheric kill vehicle” with steering rockets and its own X-Band Radar system.
• There are 30 GMD interceptors at Vandenberg AFB and Fort Greely in Alaska.
• The MDA has begun work at Fort Greely to prepare for a field of silos that will contain an extra 14 interceptors by 2017.

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.

MDA director gives update on missile defense

Vice Adm. James Syring, director of the MDA (Missile Defense Agency, updated last week’s attendees of the Space and Missile Defense Symposium on the programs the Missile Defense Agency has in place to protect not only the war fighter, but the nation’s homeland and its allies.

Those programs are becoming more and more important, Syring said, as the threat increases. Not counting the U.S., Russia, China or NATO, roughly 6,000 ballistic missiles exist in the world today – by 2020 that number is expected to increase to 7,950. “The threat over the last couple of years has certainly escalated,” Syring said. “It has influenced a lot of the decisions we have made in missile defense to better posture ourselves against the threat.”

All one has to do is look at the news to see images of the North Koreans parading their KN-08 missiles through the streets to realize the global threat is real and imminent. Currently in the process of developing a road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile and an intermediate-range ballistic missile, North Korea’s weapons could potentially reach Guam, the Aleutian Islands, and even Hawaii, according to Syring. Iran, too, is increasing its force through the deployment of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles.

While defending the U.S. and its allies may seem daunting, defense secretary Chuck Hagel outlined in March several actions being taken to counter the nation’s adversaries, which Syring expanded on during his remarks. Those priorities include:

• Deploying 14 ground-based interceptors to Fort Greely, Alaska, by fiscal year 2017
• Deploying an additional AN/TPY-2, anti-ballistic missile radar that will provide early warning and tracking of launched missiles to Japan
• Conducting environmental impact studies for a potential additional interceptor site in the continental U.S.
• Restructure the Standard Missile 3 IIB program into a common kill vehicle technology program

Estados Unidos: Aumenta la preocupación sobre su capacidad de respuesta frente a misiles balísticos

 

 

El Pentágono está moviendo ficha con su despliegue de radares y sistemas antimisiles en Emiratos Arabes Unidos (AN/TPY-2), Guam (THAAD), Japón (AN/TPY-2), Jordania (Patriot) y Turquía (Patriot). Este despliegue responde a las amenazas provenientes de Corea del Norte, y a la posibilidad de que se desate en cualquier momento una guerra total en Oriente Medio. La precaución de Estados Unidos no resulta exagerada en modo alguno, ya que se estima que existen más de 6.300 misiles balísticos fuera de control norteamericano, ruso o chino, cifra que según la MDA podría llegar a las 8.000 unidades para el año 2020.

Budget constraints make missile defense decissions challenging

U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) indicated that given the budget challenges facing Congress, difficult decisions must be made regarding the resources required to continue missile defense development for the United States. “Our challenge is to make sure we’re doing what we need to do to protect ourselves against missile attacks and to take advantage of emerging technologies that can be utilized as soon as reasonably possible given the constraints to the budget,” Cochran said. Cochran sought information from MDA director, Vice Admiral James Syring on the whether the budget request is sufficient to continue development and deployment of missile defense programs, including enhanced radar capabilities and the potential for a sea-based option to defend the eastern United States. The subcommittee also examined the administration’s decision to increase the number of operational ground based interceptors from 30 to 44 to enhance the nation’s national missile defense posture. The Department of Defense in April announced a new missile defense strategy in light of continued efforts by North Korea to test its nuclear capabilities and long-range launch vehicles. The MDA mission also takes into account the ability of Iran to launch satellites into space, which indicates it has the capability to develop a long range ballistic missile.

NSWC PHD takes part in successful missile test

 

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD), participated in a successful test of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system, resulting in the intercept of a separating ballistic missile target over the Pacific Ocean. The test was a joint effort of NSWC PHD, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), USS Lake Erie (CG-70), NSWC Dahlgren Division and NSWC Corona Division. During the test, a two-stage ballistic missile test target was launched and then successfully intercepted by the SM-3 Block IB Guided Missile. (Read more)

Prototype Lockheed ballistic missile target tested

A prototype air-launched ballistic missile target has been successfully tested by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Lockheed Martin.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2013/05/13/Prototype-Lockheed-ballistic-missile-target-tested/UPI-80831368465365/#ixzz2TH2d8EDq