The U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Boeing [BA] said that a Dec. 11 test of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) demonstrated the possibility of engaging adversary ballistic missiles more rapidly.
The test, using an upgraded Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) with a Capability Enhanced-II Block 1 Exo-Atmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV), was the first with “a three-stage GBI operating in two-stage mode, which means the third stage was commanded not to ignite and allowed earlier release of the kill vehicle, providing closer range engagements,” according to MDA.
“The primary objective of the test was to demonstrate the ability of GMD to engage a target in the expanded engagement space made possible by the GBI in two-stage mode,” MDA said. “This test was also the first integrated GMD flight test using sensor data from the Army Navy/Transportable Radar Surveillance Model-2 Forward Based Mode with and Sea-Based X-Band radar with upgrades. This new capability, known as a 2-/3-Stage selectable GBI, will be deployed in the next GMD capability delivery to the warfighter. This capability gives the warfighter greater flexibility in executing the defense of the homeland while significantly expanding the battlespace for successful threat engagement.”
GMD is to defend the U.S. against ballistic missiles from North Korea and Iran, while the U.S. relies on its own nuclear arsenal–“strategic deterrence”–to ward off possible attacks from Russia and China.
Boeing said that the Dec. 11 intercept in space of an intermediate-range ballistic missile “validated GMD’s Capability Increment 6B configuration, which gives the Missile Defense Operators more time, space, and flexibility to intercept ballistic missile threats to the U.S. homeland.”
Boeing has been the lead system integrator on GMD since 1998.
DoD has fielded 44 older GBIs, most at Fort Greely, Alaska, for GMD. MDA is developing the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) in a competition between Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Northrop Grumman [NOC]-led teams, and MDA said it has 20 silos ready for NGI (Defense Daily, Aug. 10).
NGI is to allow the U.S. to destroy a small number of North Korean long range nuclear missiles having multiple warheads and decoys.