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U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he has ordered the deployment of a new missile defense system and a sophisticated tracking radar to respond to any North Korean missile launch that threatens Hawaii. Meanwhile, America's top military officer says the U.S. Navy is prepared to try to stop North Korean ships suspected of carrying weapons banned by a new United Nations Security Council resolution. Secretary Gates says the United States is watching North Korea's missile launch preparations "very closely" and he has ordered a new high-altitude missile interceptor system deployed to Hawaii, along with a floating radar system to provide...

SNIPPET: "President Barack Obama has nominated an anti-missile defense adviser who may soon receive congressional approval — and put Americans in danger. Russia and China, two countries with nuclear weapons and effective long range ballistic missiles, have helped Iran develop its missile program. Other countries that range from the hostile to the unreliable — for example, North Korea, Syria and Pakistan — also have ballistic missile programs. The global picture grows incresingly bleak. The more ballistic missiles change hands between states, the more likely they are to fall — or be placed — into the hands of terrorists. This is...

Lockheed Martin missile defense systems achieved several key milestones in 2009, including five successful intercepts and numerous other major accomplishments, further solidifying Lockheed Martin as a world leader in air and missile defense. With 20 successful Aegis BMD intercepts, six successful Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) intercepts and 26 successful Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile intercepts since the inception of those programs, Lockheed Martin continues to build on its unmatched legacy as the pioneer of hit-to-kill technologies. "Lockheed Martin is proud to continue to lead ballistic missile defense efforts for the United States and allied nations," said John Holly,...

The second generation of Lockheed Martin’s [NYSE: LMT] Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system, BMD 4.0.1, successfully detected, tracked and conducted simulated engagements against a variety of different ballistic missile targets during a series of tracking exercises in the Pacific. The key feature of the new system is a new integrated signal processor designed to improve the system’s discrimination capability to defeat sophisticated ballistic missiles and their countermeasures. During a series of four tests, the guided missile cruiser USS Lake Erie – upgraded with the BMD 4.0.1 Weapon System – successfully detected, tracked and guided simulated Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block...

In conjunction with the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), U.S. Pacific Fleet ships and crews successfully completed a series of exercises to test the second generation Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) weapon system, Aegis BMD 4.0.1. This set of four exercises, designated FTX-06 Events 1-4, involved the tracking and simulated engagements of a variety of ballistic missile targets launched over the past several months from the Kauai Test Facility, co-located on the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), Barking Sands, Kauai. The Aegis BMD system is a critical component of the nation’s overall Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). FTX-06 Event 1, conducted...

A critical space-based capability was added to America's ballistic missile defenses Sept. 25 when two U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) Demonstrator satellites built by Northrop Grumman were launched aboard a Delta II rocket. "This demonstration will show the inherent advantages space sensors bring to persistent missile tracking and engagement," said Gabe Watson, vice president and STSS program manager for Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems sector. "Space-based sensors will augment existing radar to enable missile tracking through all phases of flight from boost through intercept." The United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket, with the tandem-stacked STSS...

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii – Capt. Mineo Hirata and the 280 sailors on board the Japanese navy destroyer JS Kongo will attempt to shoot a ballistic missile out of space tomorrow – a first for Tokyo or any U.S. ally. The joint Japan-U.S. test off Hawaii comes almost 10 years after North Korea launched a long-range missile that flew over Japanese territory and splashed into the Pacific Ocean, spurring an alarmed Tokyo to invest billions in missile defense. “There are countries near us that possess ballistic missiles,” Hirata told reporters before the Kongo headed out to sea. “This (the test) is...

Air Force Lieutenant General Henry 'Trey" Obering, Missile Defense Agency (MDA) director, announced the successful completion today of a multiple simultaneous engagement involving two ballistic missile targets. This was MDA's latest "hit to kill" intercept flight test conducted jointly with the U.S. Navy off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii. For the first time, the operationally realistic test involved two unitary "non-separating" targets, meaning that the target's warheads did not separate from their booster rockets. This was the 32nd and 33rd successful "hit-to-kill" intercepts since 2001. Designated as Flight Test Standard Missile-13 (FTM-13), it marked the tenth and eleventh successful intercepts,...

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced today it has completed an important exercise and flight test involving a successful intercept by a ground-based interceptor missile designed to protect the United States against a limited long-range ballistic missile attack. The flight test results will help to further improve and refine the performance of numerous Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) elements able to provide a defense against the type of long-range ballistic missile that could be used to attack an American city with a weapon of mass destruction. The interceptor was launched from the Ronald W. Reagan Missile Defense Site, located at...

Lieutenant General Henry A. ‘Trey” Obering, Missile Defense Agency (MDA) director, announced the successful completion today of MDA’s latest “hit to kill” intercept flight test conducted jointly with the U.S. Navy off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii. This was the 28th successful intercept in 36 missile defense tests since 2001. The test involved a “separating” target, meaning that the target warhead separated from its booster rocket. The event, designated as Flight Test Standard Missile -12 (FTM-12), marked the ninth successful intercept in eleven flight tests for the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Program, the sea-based component of the Agency’s Ballistic Missile...

The missile-defense plans of today's Pentagon are far less ambitious than those envisioned by the Reagan-era Strategic Defense Initiative. Out, is the concept of an impenetrable domed shield for the US. In, is possible limited security against an accidental launch or rogue power such as North Korea. Yet 30 years after "Star Wars" roiled world geopolitics, US missile defense remains a contentious issue, both in Washington and abroad. Support for missile defense in Congress remains mixed. Meanwhile, Russia continues to hammer at Bush administration plans to deploy missile-defense elements in Europe with rhetoric that harks back to US-Soviet cold war...

Lieutenant General Henry “Trey” Obering, Missile Defense Agency (MDA) director, announced the successful completion today of the latest Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense “hit to kill” intercept flight test. Conducted jointly with the U.S. Navy, the test involved the simultaneous engagements of a ballistic missile “unitary” target (meaning that the target warhead and booster remain attached) and a surrogate hostile air target. This marked the eighth successful intercept in ten flight tests for the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Program. The Aegis BMD system is the maritime component of the MDA’s Ballistic Missile Defense System, and is designed to intercept and...

LIHUE, Hawaii, April 25 (UPI) -- The USS Lake Erie is set to attempt an ambitious anti-ballistic missile test against two simultaneous targets Thursday. The exercise will be a delayed test of the U.S. Navy's Aegis ABM system, the Honolulu Advertiser reported Wednesday. "A similar test was aborted in December because of an incorrect setting in the Aegis missile system aboard the cruiser Lake Erie. This is the 10th intercept attempt. Of the previous nine, seven resulted in successful intercepts," the newspaper said. In one of the tests, the interceptor will be fired from the warship at a simulated short-range...

Lieutenant General Henry “Trey” Obering, Missile Defense Agency director, announced today the completion of a successful intercept test for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) ballistic missile defense element at the Pacific Missile Range Facility off the island of Kauai in Hawaii. This test involved the successful intercept of a “mid endo-atmospheric” (inside earth’s atmosphere) unitary (non-separating) target representing a “SCUD”-type ballistic missile launched from a mobile platform positioned off Kauai in the Pacific Ocean. The interceptor was launched from the THAAD launch complex at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. This was the 26th successful “hit to kill” intercept...

Lt. Gen. Henry “Trey” Obering, Missile Defense Agency director, today announced the successful execution of an important test involving the tracking of a long-range target missile by radars that are being incorporated into the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). The target missile was launched today from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. at 9:27 pm PDT March 20 (12:27 am EDT March 21). The target was successfully tracked by the Sea-Based X-band (SBX) radar and two Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense ships using onboard SPY-1 radar. The Missile Defense Agency is developing and deploying an extensive network of land and sea-based radars...

TEWKSBURY, Mass., April 5, 2005 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company's phased array X-Band Radar (XBR) has been successfully lifted and placed aboard its host Sea-Based XBR platform, the SBX-1, marking the completion of a major milestone in support of the Missile Defense Agency's Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050405/NETU029 ) Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems designed and built the XBR for the BMDS, drawing on extensive sensor knowledge from its long heritage of radar programs. The nine-story-high XBR is the world's largest X-Band Radar, weighing four million pounds. Raytheon's XBR is the primary payload on the Moss 5 semi-submersible platform, which...