The Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system successfully killed a target missile in a realistic test using multiple radars, showing that the Missile Defense Agency and its contractors have developed a system that can defeat incoming long-range enemy missiles threatening the United States.

A glitch did occur in the target missile, but the GMD interceptor performed without fault.

That vital, much-needed win came just as President-elect Obama and a Democratic-led Congress in a few weeks will begin considering the next round of funding that the GMD and other ballistic missile defense (BMD) programs will receive in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2010.

This victory for the GMD system, the sole U.S. shield against long-range enemy missiles, is especially vital for another program, where the United States plans to install a European Missile Defense (EMD) shield to protect Europe and the United States against enemy missiles launched by Middle Eastern rogue nations, such as Iran.

The EMD interceptor would be a variant (two stages instead of three) of the GMD interceptor.

But some Democrats have voiced skepticism about both the GMD and EMD systems, saying the GMD needs more testing, and the EMD interceptor should be tested before it is installed in ground silos in Poland. That would add two years to installation of the EMD, even though Iran has no limits slowing its production of more nuclear materials and longer-range missiles.

The successful test of the GMD system bolsters missile defense advocates in Congress: they can argue that the GMD again has successfully taken out a target missile, so that the GMD is being thoroughly tested. And they can argue as well that since the GMD interceptors work well, there is less need to test the EMD variant before it is deployed.

Both the GMD and EMD programs are led by The Boeing Co. [BA], along with Northrop Grumman Corp. [NOC], Orbital Sciences Corp. [ORB] and Raytheon Co. [RTN].

The test was marred by the target missile not releasing countermeasures as intended, so that the test didn’t end with proof that the GMD system would be able to counter such systems.

Congress has demanded that missile defense systems be subjected to "realistic" tests.

However, the fault here lay in the target missile, not in the GMD sensor system or interceptor.

Proof It Works

But the MDA and the lead contractor in the program stressed that the GMD interceptor performed flawlessly, doing all that it was supposed to without fail.

"This test demonstrated that the Ground-based Midcourse Defense … system can defeat a long-range ballistic missile target," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. "This intercept is further proof that GMD can provide our nation with an effective defense against the threat of long-range ballistic missiles."

"Data gathered from multiple sensors gave us a clearer picture of the incoming threat, enabling GMD to achieve the shoot-down of a complex target," said Greg Hyslop, Boeing vice president and GMD program director. "Integrating sensors separated by thousands of miles is a major engineering challenge, but we overcame this challenge by working together as a team."

"This test was an important milestone for the Sea-Based X-Band Radar, a powerful, mobile sensor developed by Boeing," said Norm Tew, Boeing’s chief engineer for GMD. "This was the first intercept test in which data from SBX was combined with data from the other sensors to provide tracking data and guidance aimpoint updates to the interceptor."

Further accolades came from the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA).

"Assurance through testing is in place today, sending a strong, credible demonstration to North Korea and those that threaten the United States," that an effective missile defense shield is in place, said Riki Ellison, the MDAA chairman.

In other new developments bolstering the case for pushing ahead with missile defense, a report of the bipartisan Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism said the United States is likely to be hit with a weapon-of-mass-destruction attack by terrorists or rogue states by 2013. And the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran already possesses sufficient fissile material to make one nuclear weapon, and with ever-more centrifuges spinning to process uranium, soon will have enough to make several weapons. It’s too late to stop Iran from going nuclear. (Please see separate stories in this issue.)

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said he pictures the world without the United States, that Israel should be wiped from the map, and that Israel soon shall cease to exist.

Iran has fired a missile from a submerged submarine, and also has begun a space program, which would involve the same basic technology as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

Details Of The Test

GMD flight test results will help to further refine performance of numerous missile shield elements able to provide a defense against the type of long-range ballistic missile that could be used to attack the United States with a weapon of mass destruction.

In the winning GMD test Friday, a threat-representative target missile was launched from Kodiak, Alaska, at 3:04 p.m. ET.

That target missile was similar to the sort of missile that might be launched by North Korea, which is developing a Taepo Dong-2 ICBM that could strike targets in the United States. Further, North Korea already has built nuclear weapons, and tested one underground. Despite years of six-party peace talks, Pyongyang hasn’t turned over even one nuclear weapon to inspectors.

The test Friday involved a long-range ballistic target missile that was tracked by several land- and sea-based radars, which sent targeting information to the interceptor missile. At 3:23 p.m., the GMD interceptor was launched from the Ronald W. Reagan Missile Defense Site, located at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The interceptor’s exoatmospheric [outside the atmosphere] kill vehicle was carried into the target’s predicted trajectory in space, maneuvered to the target, performed discrimination, and intercepted the threat warhead.

This was the first time an operational crew located at the alternate fire control center at Fort Greely, Alaska remotely launched the interceptor from Vandenberg. In previous interceptor launches from Vandenberg, military crews at the fire control center at Schriever AFB, Colo. remotely launched the interceptor.

The target was successfully tracked by a transportable AN/TPY-2 radar located in Juneau, Alaska, a Navy Aegis BMD ship with SPY-1 radar, the Upgraded Early Warning Radar at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., and the Sea-Based X-band radar. Each sensor sent information to the fire control system, which integrated the data together to provide the most accurate target trajectory for the interceptor.

That interceptor’s exoatmospheric kill vehicle is the component that collides directly with a target warhead in space to perform a hit-to-kill intercept using only the force of the collision to totally destroy the target warhead.

Initial indications are that all components performed as designed.

Program officials will evaluate system performance based on telemetry and other data obtained during the test.

Overall, this successful GMD test is just one of many during development of the total, multilayered U.S. missile defense shield.

This was the 37th successful hit-to-kill intercept of 47 attempts since 2001 for the total BMD system. Operational GMD interceptors currently are deployed at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg, protecting the United States, its friends and allies against ballistic missile attack.