The Navy and the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) last week conducted another successful ballistic missile defense (BMD) test, which included the first of four events planned for this year to exercise a new signal processor’s discrimination capability, according to Lockheed Martin LMT].
The Navy and MDA conducted two tests last week: the first to validate a prototype kill assessment system as well as Lockheed Martin’s Aegis BMD 4.01 software build, Lisa Callahan, vice president maritime BMD defense programs, told reporters during a briefing last week.
In the first test, a ballistic missile target was destroyed. The intercept occurred about 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean, according to the Navy.
The first test, called Stellar Avenger, had the Aegis BMD-equipped USS Hopper (DDG-70) running an operational scenario in which the Aegis weapon system detected and tracked a Raytheon RN] Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) as it intercepted a ballistic missile in the exoatmosphere, Callahan said.
The USS O’Kane (DDG-77) tracked and ran a simulated engagement. The O’Kane was equipped with the prototype kill assessment system that provides a post-intercept assessment, she added.
The system provides a video link from the SM-3’s kill vehicle, Lockheed Martin said in a statement following the test.
“The video feed is combined with radar data to confirm that an intercept occurred and that the intended target was destroyed,” the company said.
The second test involved the USS Lake Erie (CG-70), equipped with Lockheed Martin’s next generation Aegis BMD software, 4.01, Callahan added.
No intercept was planned or attempted in the second mission, according to Lockheed Martin.
Both the Hopper and O’Kane conducted simulated engagements against the target, the company added.
The test was first time the new signal processor was part of the 4.01 system, Nick Bucci, director Aegis BMD development programs, told reporters during the same briefing.
“It’s the first time we will be at sea with that new signal processor,” Callahan said last Wednesday, before the test.
During that event, the Lake Erie tracked and conducted a simulated engagement with new 4.01 software. Callahan noted the 4.01 software build is the first step in Lockheed Martin’s transition to open architecture.
An hour later, the Navy and MDA ran a tracking exercise for the 4.01 baseline, Callahan said.
“Again, we have a system in development right now…engineering development…on the ship that is going to be doing tracking of ballistic missile with simulated engagement to test and verify our Aegis BMD 4.01 baseline,” she added.
Thursday’s test was also the first time two different Aegis baselines were used in a single event, Callahan noted.
The second test was part of Flight Test Exercise 06 (FTX 06), which will wrap up in the October-November time frame with three additional tests, Callahan added.
“Taking the BMD signal processor to sea is a big part of that exercise,” Bucci said. “The goal is to exercise its discrimination capability, [the] ability to discern all the different parts and pieces within a ballistic missile.
“As we go through those four events, the [BMD signal processor] will be tested on successively more complex target situations,” he added. “Ultimately, it will be against a complex target.”