THAAD Weapon System Achieves Lowest Endo Intercept To Date

SPX via Space Daily ^ | 6/29/2010 | SPX via Space Daily

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Ping

[UCANSEE2]

[TokuMei]

good post. Put me on your ping list if you have one..?

[mylife]

Look for Obama to axe the system.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

I will. Welcome Aboard.

[eyedigress]

That looks better than the shot from white sands 15 years ago. I was in Chandler leaving at sunrise headed SW. A close look over at 9 showed a disastrous attempt. All circles.

[wjcsux]

Where was that pic taken?

[NEWwoman]

Picture looks like the classic TEMs maneuver.

[NEWwoman]

Picture looks like the classic TEMs maneuver.

[wjcsux]

I am glad to see THAAD come to life as well. We used to call it thud. I was working on SM-2 Block IVA during the early days of THAAD. That pic looks like it was taken at WSMR.

[eyedigress]

I didn’t have a camera and even got busted going 62 in a 60 just outside Maricopa. I asked the officer if he believed in aliens, and explained to him the contrails were missiles we intended for them. He wasn’t amused. 85.00 bucks :^)

[wjcsux]

Maricopa and Marana are favorite locations for the AZ DPS. These two sites are great revenue spots as you, unfortunately found out. They don’t cut you any slack, either, as I found out.

[Rannug]

Why burn off excess fuel?

[eyedigress]

I was headed over to GB. I gave a lecture once at DM on the capabilities of the ranges and it was a pretty tough crowd. Those guys were fresh A-10 pilots and no more wanted to listen to me than the man on the moon. It was fun though.

[tony549]

The TEMS maneuver was required at WSMR so that the test missile stayed within the confines of the range. This maneuver is not required at the Pacific range in Kauai.

[wjcsux]

Why burn off excess fuel?
If I remember correctly, this maneuver was programmed into the missile guidance section to bleed off energy during the boost phase. This maneuver, if I remember correctly, was for Developmental Test (DT) only. The booster is solid fuel and has a fixed amount of fuel that has a nominal burn rate and burn time. This was done to conduct the first Developmental Tests at WSMR. The boost phase acceleration profile is very dynamic. The "corkscrew" maneuver bled off boost energy allowing the Flight Safety folks to keep up with it. Without this maneuver, the missile could have gotten off range before anyone could do anything. The "corkscrew" maneuver was supposed to go away when Operational Testing was conducted at KMR.

[ThunderSleeps]

A briefing posted here http://www.defense.gov/Transcripts/Transcript.aspx?TranscriptID=405 says the TEM is for speed control (range safety) as well as for close in targets.

I would guess they're trying burn off energy to prevent an out of control missile from coming down on Albuquerque, Santa Fe, or Tucson... El Paso is probably on it's own though. ;-)

Regarding the "close in" target consideration... I'd guess there's something in the control logic that maybe they need to limit the closing velocity or some such. Whatever it is, they apparently want to make a close in intercept look like a nominal to long range intercept to the terminal guidance. Sounds good to me - keep things simple.

[ThunderSleeps]

Please put me on your ping list too.

Also, does anyone else see the irony in a weapons system with "high altitude" in the name getting kudos for a low endo intercept? ;-)

[Rannug]

Thanks for the replies. As you can see, I am no rocket scientist.