On Monday, Boeing announced that the Huntsville-based U.S. Missile Defense Agency, U.S. Northern Command, the U.S. Space Force, Space Command, and a Boeing-led industry team successfully intercepted an intermediate-range ballistic missile target in space during the latest test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System (GMD).
Boeing said the test validated a configuration that gives the Missile Defense Operators more time, space, and flexibility to intercept ballistic missile threats to the U.S. homeland.
During the test, a GMD interceptor released a kinetic-force Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle, or EKV, during the rocket booster’s second stage of its normally three-stage flight sequence. The target, which is representative of a threat, was air-launched from the Broad Ocean Area, and the interceptor was deployed from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Debbie Barnett is the vice president of Strategic Missile & Defense Systems at Boeing.
“This successful test is important because it opens up the window of opportunity to intercept threats to our homeland,” said VP Barnett. “We’re committed to continuously enhancing the GMD system’s capability to meet rapidly evolving missile defense needs for the nation.”
Boeing has supported the GMD program out of Huntsville as the led system integrator since the inception of the program in 1998 through development, testing, operations, and sustainment with engineers and experts who work in Alabama.
The system has been on alert for nearly two decades and is an integral part of America’s layered ballistic missile defense architecture.
The test demonstrated the ability of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) capability to engage threats faster.
The test employed an upgraded GBI with a Capability Enhanced-II Block 1 Exo-Atmospheric Kill Vehicle. This test was also the first test of 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.
The test’s primary objective 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. 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 is known as a 2-/3-Stage selectable GBI and will be deployed in the next version of the GMD capability delivery. MDA says that this new capability will give the Warfighter greater flexibility in executing the defense of the homeland while significantly expanding the battlespace for successful threat engagement.
“This successful intercept utilizing the 2-/3-Stage selectable Ground Based Interceptor capability in 2-stage mode provides the Warfighter with increased battlespace that supports additional shot opportunities to negate an incoming threat missile,” said MDA Director Lieutenant General Heath Collins. “The Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system is vitally important to the defense of our homeland, and this test demonstrates that we continue to provide enhanced capabilities for our existing Ground Based Interceptor fleet while we rapidly design and deliver the leap-ahead technology of the Next Generation Interceptor.”
“Today’s test highlights U.S. Northern Command’s close coordination and collaboration with the Missile Defense Agency and demonstrates our continued commitment to countering ballistic missile threats to the homeland,” said Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command. “The Ground-Based Interceptor is an important effector in a globally integrated system that connects sensors to decision-makers to provide the nation’s senior leaders with options and time. Today’s test bolsters strategic stability in a dynamic security environment.”
The GMD element of the Missile Defense System defends the U.S. homeland against ballistic missile threats from rogue Nations such as North Korea and Iran. It provides the Commander, USNORTHCOM, the capability to engage and destroy intermediate- and long-range ballistic missile threats to the U.S. homeland.
Even though the test was successful, GMD is inadequate to defend against the full weight of a missile attack by Russia or China, much less both of them working together.
MDA said in a statement that although the United States maintains the right to defend itself against attacks from any source, GMD is neither intended for, nor capable of, defeating large and sophisticated ICBM, air-, or sea-launched ballistic missile threats from Russia and the People’s Republic of China. The United States relies on strategic deterrence to address those threats.
The mission of the Missile Defense Agency is to develop and deploy a layered Missile Defense System to defend the United States, its deployed forces, allies, and friends from limited ballistic missile attacks of all ranges in all phases of flight.
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