GMD Facing Countermeasures In Upcoming Test

Aviation Week and Space Technology ^ | 1/28/2010 | Amy Butler

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) plans to conduct a flight test of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system Jan. 31 and hopes to execute the first-ever intercept attempt by the Airborne Laser soon after.

The goal of the GMD test, expected between 5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. EDT, will be to achieve an intercept against a new target, the Lockheed Martin LV-2, according to Rick Lehner, an MDA spokesman.

This will also be the first flight of this target type, an intermediate-range ballistic missile that will deploy countermeasures during the test. Last fall, program officials said this would be the most complex test to date of the GMD system. With a target launching from Meck Island and the interceptor boosting from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., the test will feature similar geometry to a launch from North Korea.

This flight test originally was slated for last September. An intercept attempt also was a goal in a December 2008 flight test of the GMD system against a different target.

But during that test the countermeasures developed by Sandia National Laboratories failed to deploy.

Following the GMD test, MDA will then quickly reset the team to prepare for the first intercept attempt of the 747-400F-based Airborne Laser (ABL), likely within one month. During the flight trial, the ABL will be pitted against two short-range ballistic missiles.

This first intercept test has been long-anticipated, having originally been expected in 2002. Though the Pentagon has dashed plans to buy a fleet of 747-400F-based ABLs with the current chemical oxygen iodine laser configuration, the test likely will provide data that could be used if the department decides to pursue a follow-on ABL effort.