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Sequestration and U.S. Missile Defense/Space Surveillance Radars (February...
According to the Air Force, if sequestration goes into effect, it would have to make cuts in radar operations that would have the effect of “significantly impacting national missile defense, space...
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Ballistic Missile Defense: What Happened with the Block IA intercept in...
Integrated flight test FTI-01, conducted by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) on October 25, 2012, involved the near-simultaneous interception of three ballistic missile and two cruise missile targets....
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Another Claim about the Effectiveness of the GMD National Missile Defense...
I have updated (now with 16 claims) my compilation of official claims about the effectiveness of the United States GMD national missile defense with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney’s comments...
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European Phased Adaptive Approach Missile Defense: Phase IV Now 2022 or...
For the past year or so, DoD and MDA officials have been saying that the deployment of the high-speed SM-3 Block IIB interceptor, the key element of the planned Phase IV of the European Phased Adaptive...
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U.S. Announces EPAA Phase IV cancellation, increase in number of GMD national...
At a Pentagon press conference today, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced that the planned deployment of the high-speed SM-3 Block IIB interceptor to Poland (and the corresponding 4th phase of...
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National Missile Defense: Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) Testing Update. Why...
At last Friday’s Pentagon press conference announcing plans to deploy 14 additional Ground-Based interceptors (GBIs) in existing silos as part the of current Ground-Based Midcourse (GMD) national...
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National Missile Defense: The $1 Billion Cost Figure for the Fourteen New GBI...
At a March 15, 2013 press conference (transcript), U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced that U.S. would increase the number of Ground-Based Interceptors (GBIs) deployed as part of its...
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Is Guam Covered by the U.S. GMD National Missile Defense System? (March 21,...
In light of recent developments involving North Korea, including its threat this week to attack Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, questions have been raised about how well the U.S. territory was...
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Update on TPY-2 X-Band Radars (March 24, 2013)
Raytheon announced last week that it had delivered the 8th TPY-2 X-band radar to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.[1] This radar is now being used by the 3rd Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)...
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GAO: GMD National Missile Defense Program Costs To Exceed $40 Billion (March...
The 2013 GAO annual “Assessments of Selected Weapon Programs” was posted today.[1] It shows that the projected cost of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) national missile defense program now...
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First THAAD Deployment Is to Guam (April 3, 2013)
Less than three weeks after Department of Defense officials incorrectly stated that Guam was covered by the U.S. Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) national missile system, the Department announced...
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GMD National Missile Defense System Costs over the Last Ten Years (April 5,...
In a recent post, I cited the GAO estimate that the total cost of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) national missile defense system, projected through FY 2017, was now $40.9 billion (in FY 2013...
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Cobra Dane Power Cutback Cancelled (April 10, 2013)
As discussed in a recent post, as a result of sequestration, the Air Force had planned to reduce operations at several large radars used for space surveillance and ballistic missile defense. One of...
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GMD Testing Update (April 17, 2013)
The recently released FY 2014 Missile Defense Agency (MDA) budget justification documentation provides some new details on the MDA’s plans for future tests of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD)...
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Table of Aegis Sm-3 Intercept Tests (April 27, 2013)
Below is table of Aegis SM-3 intercept tests since testing resumed in 2002. Subsequent posts will discuss the Aegis system configurations and individual tests in more detail. Click on either half of...
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Table of Future Aegis Intercept (mostly) Tests (April 30, 2013)
Projected future intercept tests for Aegis SM-3 (with a few significant non-intercept tests). Dates and descriptions are highly subject to change. Most data from FY 2014 (April 2013) budget...
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Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Interceptors (SM-3, SM-2 Block IV, and SM-6)...
The SM-3 is the U.S Navy’s current exo-atmospheric (above-the-atmosphere) ballistic missile defense interceptor. It is based on the airframe of the SM-2 Block IV extended-range air defense...
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Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) System Versions (May 7, 2013)
This post briefly describes the various versions of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Weapon System. See the post of May 2 for a description of the different versions of the Aegis BMD...
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East Coast Interceptor Site: Some Observation’s from this Week’s...
A possible east coast site for interceptors for the current U.S. Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) national missile defense system was the subject of multiple questions at Thursday’s (May 9, 2013)...
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Updated List of Claims about GMD Effectiveness (May 20, 2013)
Claims by U.S. government officials about the effectiveness of the U.S. Ground-Based Midcourse (GMD) national missile defense system. This iteration adds seven additional claims (some old, some new)....
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