Airborne Laser Offers Unique Technologies; Kinetic Energy Interceptor Advances
Ballistic missile defense programs may face funding reductions just when those programs are about to provide a payoff after years of expensive taxpayer investments in development work, a Northrop Grumman Corp. [NOC] official said.
Larry J. Dodgen, sector vice president and executive lead with the Northrop Missile Defense Integration Group, noted that the Airborne Laser this year will attempt its first missile shoot-down.
His comments came as some key members of Congress wrote to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, objecting strongly to any move to slash or kill the ABL program. (Please see separate story in this issue.)
The Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) will have a key booster flight, building toward an eventual shoot-down.
Those are the two systems designed to take down enemy missiles in their most vulnerable phase of flight, just after launch, when the enemy weapon is belching out a hot, easily- tracked flaming exhaust.
Further, just after launch, an enemy missile hasn’t yet had time to spew forth multiple warheads, confusing decoys or chaff.
Asked by Space & Missile Defense Report whether killing the ABL would mean the loss not only of a missile defense system, but also the loss of a new type of weapon for the military — lasers — Dodgen said that is true. It in theory might be possible to salvage some of the technology, though, he added.
Northrop makes the laser for the ABL. The Boeing Co. [BA], the prime contractor, provides the heavily modified 747-400 jumbo jet aircraft, and Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] provides the beam control-fire control system.
One problem, he observed, is that “ABL has the perception of being an expensive program,” because buying a fleet of seven ABL aircraft would put the program in the billion- dollar class.
Space & Missile Defense Report asked whether members of Congress should view that cost in isolation, or whether they also should consider the fact that the ABL, using a laser, can kill an enemy missile for a fraction of the cost of other missile defense systems that use pricey interceptors for kills.
Operating costs also should be considered, not just acquisition costs, Dodgen said.
Further, ABL can continue focusing on the enemy missile and firing a laser continuously until its electronics are fried and a hole is bored into the enemy weapon. Interceptor missiles, on the other hand, must hit the enemy missile at one very specific point in time and space, while the interceptor and enemy weapon both are traveling at enormous speeds.
He didn’t object to Congress reviewing missile defense programs at a time of budget constraints.
With KEI, Northrop is the prime contractor.
This program has shown great strides in recent years. In 2006, a displeased Lt. Gen. Henry “Trey” Obering III, then director of the Missile Defense Agency, said KEI would have to develop much faster acceleration, or the program would be canceled. But KEI was improved just as he requested, and Obering later was impressed with KEI.
If Congress kills the ABL program, KEI might then become the missile defense system to kill enemy weapons in their “boost” phase just after launch, unless, of course, Congress also kills KEI.
Northrop also announced that it set a record with a different high-powered laser system, the Joint High Power Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) program, Phase 3. (Please see separate story in this issue.)
And Northrop also makes some of the Navy surface combatant ships that use the Aegis weapon control system by Lockheed and Standard Missile-3 by Raytheon. (Please see separate SM-3 Raytheon story in this issue.)
A key point here, Dodgen noted, is that the missile-attack threat posed by rogue nations and terrorist groups, or non-state actors, isn’t disappearing. Rather, it is worsening, as missiles proliferate, and the United States needs to protect itself and its allies.
Dodgen also said that the U.S. government can get the most from valuable missile defense dollars by focusing on early intercept of hostile ballistic missiles through mobile and flexible defenses.
“A mobile, early intercept system stands to make the existing layer of defense much stronger while also being more affordable for taxpayers in the long run,” he said.
Dodgen is responsible for coordinating the company’s missile defense strategies.
He was commander of the Army Space and Missile Defense Command / Army Forces Strategic Command before joining Northrop two years ago.
His comments came during a media briefing at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
“The most value for the dollar clearly lies in shooting down ballistic missiles as early as possible after they’re launched, when they are most vulnerable and before they separate into numerous, hard-to-track objects,” Dodgen said. “o do that, our nation needs defenses that can deploy quickly and engage early. This will be cost-effective, because more shooters and sensors are needed to destroy a missile during its latter stages of flight.”
Northrop is prime contractor for two missile defense systems with strategic mobility and
flexibility needed to more affordably enhance current defenses, the KEI and the Space Tracking and Surveillance System, MDA’s space-based sensing element, which will be the first system capable of providing worldwide coverage, tracking missiles through all phases of flight.
“This is an opportune time to reassess the path forward and our overall missile defense strategy,” Dodgen said. “Do we content ourselves with defenses primarily against two countries — North Korea and Iran — or do we shift to mobile capabilities that could strengthen existing defenses and at the same time prepare the country for emerging and more complex threats?”
Standing still in missile defense is falling behind because countries hostile to the United States are making rapid advances in ballistic missile and nuclear weapons technologies, he said.
MDA has a portfolio of future programs with the capabilities needed to move forward. “KEI and STSS are global for addressing shifting threats; mobile for responding from anywhere; layered for multiple shots at a target; and more affordable than maintaining fixed or ground-based missiles,” he said.