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Demonstration satellites built by Northrop Grumman and Raytheon successfully tracked a ground-based missile launch in a systems test last month. Tracking data generated by satellite sensors was transmitted to the Missile Defense Integration and Operation Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., which serves as the ground station for the two demonstration spacecraft, Northrop Grumman said in a news release "The STSS satellites operated as expected and the system generated high-quality track data during the boost phase in this first missile test of capabilities," said Gabe Watson, vice president, missile defense and missile warning programs for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.

The Pentagon’s Airborne Laser (ABL) is being prepared for a late July test in which it will attempt to shoot down an ascending target missile from twice the distance of the aircraft’s previous intercept tests, the program’s top official said. Originally conceived as an operational military system that would use a high-power chemical laser to destroy ballistic missiles in the early stages of flight, the ABL platform — only one has been built — has been relegated to the role of technology test-bed. The program is funded by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) through September, but its future is...

next-generation missile interceptor being co-developed by Japan and the United States would not be able to take out U.S.-bound North Korean long-range ballistic missiles flying over Japan, senior Defense Ministry officials said Sunday. This is because the range of the interceptor, dubbed the Standard Missile 3 Block 2A, would not allow an Aegis-equipped ship deployed off Japan to target high-flying missiles, the officials told Kyodo News. The outlook could affect debate in Japan over whether to exercise the constitutionally banned right of collective self-defense so as to shoot down U.S.-bound missiles flying over the country. With an estimated range of...

Missile Defense Boost-Phase Contract Awarded The Department of Defense announced today that the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman Space and Mission Systems Corp. for the development and testing of a concept for the Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) program designed to intercept and destroy a ballistic missile in its boost/early ascent phase, which is the period of flight lasting from three to five minutes after a ballistic missile is launched. The contract awarded today is approximately $4.5 billion over the next eight years. This is the MDA’s first capability-based development and test contract, and it...