US to attempt first ICBM intercept test

[jpak]

Source: The Hill

The Pentagon will attempt to shoot down an intercontinental missile for the first time in a test next week, with the goal of preparing for such a strike from North Korea, ABC News reported.

The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency on Tuesday will shoot an interceptor from the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system — a network meant to protect the country against a limited nuclear attack — at a custom-made missile meant to simulate an ICBM.

The target is not a mock-up of an actual North Korean ICBM, Christopher Johnson, spokesman for the Missile Defense Agency, told ABC.

The interceptor will be launched from an underground silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., and fly toward the target, fired from a test range on Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific.

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Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/defense/335342-us-to-attempt-first-icbm-intercept-test

[Oneironaut]

1. The problem is, we're far away from being able to stop a flurry attack.

Nuclear war would still be devastating. I dream of the day where we have SDI Defense-like technology, and shooting a flurry of nukes off becomes pointless.

[eggplant]

9. It's not in anyone's interest to fire more than one.

Places like NK can't hurl a bunch of them, and our economy is tied tightly to all the other nuclear powers. None of them are going to fire at us. Our current fear is of a single launch, or much more likely, bringing one in and lighting it off directly.

[iluvtennis]

2. This does indeed sound like Reagan's Star Wars program. It was shelved because of costs and...

Last edited Fri May 26, 2017, 07:11 PM - Edit history (1)

SALT violations and it would inflame the then Soviet Union - http://www.coldwar.org/articles/80s/SDI-StarWars.asp

Why is Dumpty resurrecting this again? GAH, i despise Trump

[EX500rider]

4. "...and it would inflame the ten Soviet Union"

Russia has her own ABM system around Moscow:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_defense_systems_by_country#Russia

[EX500rider]

7. "Why is Dumpty resurrecting this again? GAH, i despise Trump"

Little to do with him, we've been working on ABM systems through the last few administrations...something about not wanted US cities to be held hostage to N Korean nuke's or Iranian ones if they get that far.

[SkyDaddy7]

20. Yes, you're correct!

I was stationed at Vandenberg AFB in the early 90s & they were working on ABM Systems back then. To be honest we have always been trying to figure out how to shoot down BM & ICBM since they were invented just cost & technology have been limiting factors. However, they were making progress back then on ICBMs so I wonder sometimes about these "Public" announcements whether they are meant as a smoke screen or if they legit. Perhaps the technology could be much further along than we make it out to be. Like we might even have a public failure like last time. Who knows just a thought.

[Kablooie]

12. Technology might have improved a bit since the 1980s, don't you think?

We probably couldn't stop a hundred missiles coming from Russia it would be be useful to stop a missile or two from North Korea.

[SkyDaddy7]

19. Exactly!

I was stationed at Vandenberg AFB in the early 90s & they were working on ABM systems then. It is really kinda cool to think about the physics of it.

[GulfCoast66]

26. This has been on going for years

And president Obama supported it. Because protecting American from ICBM attack from a rogue nation really should not be a partisan issue.

[wasupaloopa]

3. No this is not the first time. It has been happening since the early 2000's

Vandenberg is right behind our house.

We've been watching the missile defense test launches for years.

The early ones were called successful if the two missiles got within miles of each other.

They also put homing devices on the target missile.

I am not sure but I don't think they ever really hit the target missile.

[EX500rider]

5. "I am not sure but I don't think they ever really hit the target missile."

As of June 2014, 9 of the 17 (53%) hit-to-kill intercept tests have succeeded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-Based_Midcourse_Defense#Flight_tests

[wasupaloopa]

8. Yes but success wasn't always a hit

and if they used a homing devise I would not call it a success.

The very first "success" listed was not a hit

[EX500rider]

10. Yeah the 1st test would be more a test of launch & flight envelopes.

You said: "I don't think they ever really hit the target missile."
Just pointing out they have in fact.

[wasupaloopa]

21. I think if you read all the descriptions to the right you find that success could be something other

than a hit.

Also they needed a homing device which is cheating in my opinion.

North Korea will not be putting homing devices on their missiles.

So it has never been stated that one missile has hit the other. The other thing is that they only have a very few decoys. Korea or someone else will have very many decoys.

IMHO we will never defend against incoming missiles with our missiles. The odds are that some will get through and it only takes one to wipe out a large number of us.

We should not give people a false sense hope that we can build a missile defense system that will keep us safe. It is a waste of money.

[EX500rider]

22. "Also they needed a homing device which is cheating in my opinion. "

Link for "all the tests had a homing device"?

Don't believe that is true, more like urban lore from some tests in the past where they were testing another parameter.

AEGIS, THAAD. Patriot and GMI have all had successful intercepts.

AEGIS
"Aegis BMD intercepted a unitary ballistic missile during FM-4 (codename: Stellar Viper). FM-4 was the first Aegis BMD test to conduct the "aimpoint shift" maneuver. The aimpoint shift increases the probability that the ballistic missile ordnance will be destroyed at intercept. The USS Lake Erie was the launching ship."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegis_Ballistic_Missile_Defense_System#Flight_tests_to_date

THAAD
"FTI-01 (Flight Test Integrated 01): test of the integration of THAAD with PAC-3 and Aegis against a raid of 5 missiles of different types.[22] During this engagement THAAD successfully intercepted an Extended Long Range Air Launch Target (E-LRALT) missile dropped from a C-17 north of Wake Island.[23] This marked the first time THAAD had intercepted a Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM).[23] Two AN/TPY-2 were used in the $180M test, with the forward-based radar feeding data into Aegis and Patriot systems as well as THAAD"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_High_Altitude_Area_Defense#Engineering_and_manufacturing

GMI
"This test launched a threat-representative mock warhead from the Kodiak Launch Complex, Alaska followed by a Ground-Based Interceptor from Vandenberg AFB. All components performed as designed."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-Based_Midcourse_Defense

Decoys only work if they are the same shape and weight as the real warhead in which case they could just add another real warhead. And if they add a decoy instead that's a plus for the defense side.

[wasupaloopa]

24. On you original link to the right of the success or fail box is a description of

the results. A few of the successes say there was a system failure and another method was used to get a success. That other method was a homing device.

I am not going to argue with you. After every launch we checked the results and I remember there very few if any hits. I was there.

[Adrahil]

27. which is fine....

But it IS a system under development.

The Wright brothers had a zero percent success rate until they didn't.

I work in R&D... lots of failures and partial successes precede an operational system this complex.

[iluvtennis]

6. Vandenberg AFB..that beings back memories when I used to travel there as a...

military defense contractor. Thanks for the post

[FLSurfer]

14. Agreed. Memories.

Spent quite a bit of time in USAKA as well.
It was a very interesting time in my life and in the world.

[Xipe Totec]

11. The most likely scenario, if Kim Jong Un decides to push the button,

would be to first detonate an extra-atmospheric nuke to take out our GPS and spy satellites, followed by the actual ICBMs destined for the United States.

It's unclear what effect this would have on ground-based missile defense, but chances are that network would be degraded by the EMP as well.

[jpak]

15. Yup - and ionization of the upper atmosphere would degrade ground-based radars

game over

[Zorro]

16. Don't think it would affect SBIRS

Geosynchronous orbit is pretty far out there.

[EX500rider]

23. For that to work the EMP would have to denotate over the US or Alaska or Hawaii..

....making it vulnerable to a intercept before detonation.

[harun]

25. He can never "push the button". His nukes are for leverage in negotiations.

[Adrahil]

28. It is unlikely North Korea can....

achieve that as of now. First off, They don't have the means to track all the spy satellites. Secondly, a single nuclear blast is unlikely to damage more than one or two GPS satellites if they are lucky. ... they aren't that close together, and they they are in 12,550 mile orbits... much higher than an ICBM gets. The GPS network is not as vulnerable as many suppose.

[truthisfreedom]

13. When was the last time they "hit a bullet with a bullet"?

90s?

[EX500rider]

17. More like Jun 22, 2014-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-Based_Midcourse_Defense#Flight_tests

And that's just the GBI system, we also have had successful tests with THAAD, AEGIS & Patriot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_national_missile_defense

[killbotfactory]

18. We live in a time where we can land rockets from space on a tiny barge in the ocean.

I'd say this technology is doable. I wish we could just not act like psychotic apes and figure out ways to avoid war entirely, but... here we are.