ALASKA MISSILE DEFENSE WEEKLY

GROUND-BASED MIDCOURSE DEFENSE SYSTEM, JTAMDO News Volume 5, Issue 9, September 2002. Problems with the rocket motor booster has caused a postponement in Integrated Flight Test 9. Flight Test 9's rocket motors are being replaced because the concerns of damaged seals on the exhaust nozzle of the interceptor booster. A ground test last month caused the interceptor's booster nozzle to move past its design limits.

XBR

An X-band sea-based radar is being built off the coast of the Alaska. The sea-based radar will be linked to up to 10 ground based interceptors and is planned to be part of MDA's initial test bed facility. The initial phase involves the initial design work and will be complete this year. In the final phase between November 2003 and September 2005, the radar will be integrated into the GMD test bed. The radar will be built with the capability to convert to a land-based alternative and can be upgraded if tasked to become part of an operationally deployed system.

PAC-3

USD (AT&L) directed that the MDA transfer production and operations support responsibility for PAC-3 program to the Army. This is subject to congressional review. The transfer and production decisions will go through the traditional acquisition decision process with IIPTs and OIPTs.

SBIRS

SBIRS-High will consist of four satellites in Geosynchronous Orbit and two satellites in classified High Elliptical Orbits (HEO). The first HEO is scheduled to be delivered by 2003 and the following one in 2004. FY 02 funding of $88M from the Wideband Gap filler program will pay for a SBIRS-High shortfall. Gap filler is designed to fill a potential gap in the MILSATCOM capabilities or DSP and the future advanced Wideband System. SBIRS-Low program will initially produce two satellites with the possibility of eight more. The first launch will occur by 2006-2007. The satellites will provide booster launch detection, midcourse tracking and discrimination of missiles. The SBIRS-Low restructured plan is capabilities based approach to get an initial satellite capability for testing then transition into future satellite development. The final number of satellites in the constellation has not been determined

GLOBAL NEWS BREAKS #30

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2002

SENATE AUTHORIZERS SEEK FUNDING FOR REALISTIC PAC-3 TESTING, Defense Daily, September 19, 2002. Defense authorizers in the Senate are urging that the Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-3 be tested against Scud missile targets before the PAC-3 is used in combat. $30 million has been included in the FY 03 defense authorization's classified annex so that the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) can carry out these tests. Not everyone supports this initiative. The MDA claims that actual Scuds cannot be used at the PAC-3 test ranges because of safety concerns; House defense authorizers did not include funding for this; and the Army is concerned about the availability of Scuds for testing. But because Scuds are wildly erratic due to their shoddy composition, many agree that it is important to see how the PAC-3 fares against them, especially given the unexpected problems that came out during the PAC-3's operational testing earlier this year.

NEXT GMD TEST SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER, MDA SAYS, Aerospace Daily, September 23, 2002. The next test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) segment of the ballistic missile defense program is tentatively scheduled for mid to late October, according to the Missile Defense Agency. MDA officials will have a better idea about the date after an initial flight readiness review is completed in early October, MDA spokesman Lt. Col. Rick Lehner told The Daily Sept. 20 . . . The test, the first since the U.S. withdrew from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, will include all elements of the GMD system, including the space-based missile warning sensor; ground-based early warning radar; prototype X-band radar at Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific; and the GMD battle management, command, control and communications system at Kwajalein Atoll and the Join National Integration Facility in Colorado Springs, Colo. . . One new wrinkle is that the test will involve the use of a Navy Aegis destroyer’s radar to track the interceptor. “We couldn’t do that before,” Lehner said. “under the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, you couldn’t use any air, space or sea platform-any mobile system-to test missiles.” Lehner said the Aegis radar will simply track the interceptor and relay its flight characteristics to MDA officials on the ground. “It [won’t] play a role in guiding the interceptor to the target,” he said.

AEGIS RADAR TRACKS MISSILE IN MDA RISK REDUCTION FLIGHT TEST, Defense Daily, September 23, 2002. The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) in a risk reduction flight last week for its Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program used the Aegis cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG-70) to track the missile with its SPY-1 radar for the first time, MDA officials said Friday. The test, in which MDA piggybacked on a routine Air Force Minuteman III operational test from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., allowed MDA to gather data without the expense of having to launch a separate missile, Air Force Lt. Col. Rick Lehner, an MDA spokesman, told Defense Daily. MDA, he said, was able to successfully exploit the launch of the Glory Trip 180GM Minuteman III, which was launched from Vandenberg on Sept. 19. The primary objective was to track the boosting ICBM with the Aegis radar, and all test objectives were met, Lehner said . . . Preliminary test data shows the Lake Erie tracked the Minuteman and that the Kinetic Energy Boost Battle Management Command and Control node received radar tracks from Vandenberg and the cruiser. Those fused tracks also were transmitted to the Joint National Integration Center and other MDA computer-in-the-loop facilities used for the GMD program.

AIR FORCE LOOKING FOR HOME FOR AIRBORNE LASER MISSION, Reporter-News (Abilene, Texas), September 23, 2002. The Air Force is beginning to determine which military bases, including Dyess, will qualify as candidates to house the Airborne Laser missile-defense weapon. By early 2004, the Air Force will announce a short list of bases it considers qualified to compete for the weapon, said Air Force Maj. Gen. Gary Heckman, the assistant deputy chief of staff for plans and programs. Immediately after that, environmental impact studies and a series of public hearings will begin at each location . . . As the Air Force compiles that short list, Heckman said, there’s not much Abilene can do to enhance its chances. Bill Ehrie, a former Dyess commander, disagreed. He has been a part of the contingent Abilene’s Military Affairs Committee has sent to Washington, D.C., several times the past two years to win over Air Force and congressional officials . . . Heckman said the decision will hinge on objective factors, such as having a compatible runway and taxiways along with appropriate airspace . . . In the past, Heckman said, the number of bases that qualified to compete for a weapon has ranged from a couple to more than two dozen, depending upon the weapon . . . At least two other bases are actively pursuing the ABL [Offut AFB in Omaha, Neb. and Minot AFB in North Dakota] . . . The competition could take 12-18 months, Heckman said.

RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER RETURNS TO MOSCOW AFTER HOLDING TALKS IN U.S., TASS, September 23, 2002. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov returned to Moscow on Monday after ending his visit to New York, where he led the Russian delegation at the 57th U. N. General Assembly session . . . During the visit Igor Ivanov attended the first meeting of the Russian-American working group for strategic security on the level of foreign and defense ministers, which was held in Washington. Participants in the meeting discussed in detail some problems of transparency and cooperation in the sphere of anti-ballistic missile defense, as well as the whole range of non-proliferation problems. "Many approaches and stands of the parties concerned became clearer. We began to understand each other better," Ivanov said after the talks. "We shall look for ways to overcome the remaining differences in relations with the United States in the same constructive way."

PENTAGON: KID-CLASS WARSHIPS ARE TAIWAN'S BEST CHOICE, Central News Agency – Taiwan, September 21, 2002. The U.S.-made Kid-class destroyers are the best warships that Taiwan can obtain for the time being, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday. In defense of Washington's offer of Kid-class destroyers instead of destroyers equipped with the Aegis air defense system to Taiwan, Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said the anti-submarine capability of the Kidds will close the gap in Taiwan's defense needs. Even if Washington agrees to sell Aegis-equipped destroyers to Taiwan, it will take up to a decade for then to be delivered, while Taiwan's threat is more immediate than that, according to Davis. Although Aegis is thought to be good at air defense and missile defense, Kidds, after being retrofitted with newly-developed devices, also have excellent anti-submarine and air-defense capabilities, the spokesman said . . . Furthermore the SM-2 missiles on the Kidds are a significant improvement over Taiwan's current missiles. Taiwan has asked to buy four Aegis-equipped destroyers, but the Pentagon is trying to convince Taipei to settle for Kidds.

OPINION/LETTERS

DON'T PANIC!, The Jerusalem Post, September 22, 2002. For weeks we have seen a festival of hysteria and panic-mongering, and it is has not peaked yet. It is true we have to be ready for any trouble that comes, and that we have long lost our innocence as far as official announcements. But a little logic and sober thinking wouldn't hurt . . . One thing is clear: as far as Israel's defense deployment the security establishment has much better means than it did in the Gulf War and it is ready to meet an Iraqi offensive attempt. And if we are talking about defense, we all remember the trauma of our lack of adequate defense against the Iraqi Scuds during the Gulf War and the dependence we developed upon the provisional Patriot missile system that arrived at the end of the war. But since then Israel and the U.S. have developed and deployed the Arrow missile defense system. The Arrow system now grants Israel a security umbrella against even the most sophisticated missiles in the world. The system has proven itself in experiments and is considerably more effective than the Patriots it replaced. It is important to remember that the Iraqi Scuds were neither new nor very accurate during the Gulf War, and it is a fact that the apparently small number of usable missiles that remain in the Iraqi arsenal have not been renewed or improved since then. The Arrow system was designed to operate against missiles with much better capabilities than the Scuds.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2002

COUNTERMEASURES CONTRACT TO BE AWARDED, Aviation Weekly and Space Technology, September 16, 2002. As part of a renewed effort to grapple with the problems countermeasures pose to missile defense programs, the Pentagon will award a $400-500 million annual contract this May. The contractor will be in charge of developing and integrating target systems that the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) would like to be increasingly complex so that testing can become more realistic. Also on the drawing board is an effort led by Boeing to develop a Complementary Exo-atmospheric Kill Vehicle (CEKV). The CEKV would eventually replace the Raytheon kill vehicle that has been used thus far for ground-based midcourse (GMD) missile defense testing and would have active and passive sensors. MDA would prefer to use the CEKV concurrently with the sea-based midcourse system, presuming that the different kinds of sensors could pool their data and be better equipped to handle countermeasures.

U.S. READY TO COOPERATE WITH RUSSIA ON STRATEGIC DEFENSE, TASS, September 24, 2002. U.S Secretary of State Colin Powell has confirmed that the United States is ready to cooperate with Russia in strategic defense. In an exclusive interview with Itar-Tass, Powell said that he had discussed that issue with the Russian foreign and defense ministers when they were in Washington late last week. Commenting on the fact that the Russian side gave in a while ago its proposals for transparency and cooperation in strategic defense but hasn’t received any answer as of yet, Powell explained that it didn’t mean that the United States was “reluctant” to work with the Russians on those issues. He noted that the United States has always been anxious “to discuss concepts of missile defense and also to see where there are areas of cooperation in the development of such systems.” “I am confident that Secretary of Rumsfeld and Minister Sergei Ivanov will continue to pursue these issues,” Powell went on to say. Asked if that would include an opportunity for Russian companies to participate in bidding for orders, Powell replied: “I think yes.”

COMPANIES TOLD TO RECERTIFY, Baltimore Business Journal, September 20, 2002. On its Web site, Vienna, Va.-based CMS Information Services brags about posting more than $30 million in revenue in fiscal 2001 and making Inc. magazine’s list of the nation’s 500 fastest-growing companies three times in the past decade. CMS, however, still wants to be considered a small business when it comes to federal contracts. The company challenged the Missile Defense Agency’s request for Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) vendors to re-certify that they are small businesses when they submit quotes for a new automated information systems support services task order. CMS cannot do that — it has grown too large. But it maintains its 1997 certification as a small business. The certification should be valid for as long as it remains on the General Services Administration’s schedule — a list of companies that can sell directly to government agencies. The General Accounting Office, however, denied CMS’ protest Aug. 7. It ruled the Missile Defense Agency’s re-certification requirement was consistent with the agency’s intent to restrict competition for the contract to small businesses. GAO General Counsel Anthony H. Gamboa says MDA’s request for updated small-business certifications was “particularly reasonable” because the “extremely long duration” of GSA schedule contracts — potentially as long as 21 years in CMS’ case — increases “the likelihood that work will be performed by a vendor that is not a small business at the time of performance.”

SBIRS-HIGH FACES DELAYS IF FUNDING CUT IN SENATE LEGISLATION PREVAILS, DOD SAYS, Aerospace Daily, September 24, 2002. The Defense Department is warning that a Senate-passed $100 million cut in the Air Force budget request for the Space Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High) would delay the program by up to 18 months and increase the chances of a gap in the nation’s missile launch warning capability . . . In an appeal to the House-Senate conference committee charges with crafting the bill, DOD wrote that the $100 million cut would delay SBIRS-High’s operational capability by 12-18 months because it would postpone the development and testing of critical software . . . A 12- to 18-month delay in SBIRS-High could cause “unacceptable gaps in our missile launch warning capability,” especially if one of the final two DSP satellites experiences a launch failure, the appeal says. “Such gaps would significantly degrade our ability to detect, track and identify attacks against the U.S., reduce leadership decision timelines in the event of attack, jeopardize the survivability of U.S. land-based strategic forces, and severely degrade national and theater missile defenses,” DOD wrote.

“POWER AND VALUES,” National Review Online, September 18, 2002. A conversation with Condoleezza Rice toward the end of the day on July 16: Jay Nordlinger sat down with Condoleezza Rice, the president’s national-security adviser, in her West Wing office . . . By now, obviously, Condi Rice needs no introduction . . .

JN: Are we going to go ahead with missile defense?

CR: Yes.

JN: Committed?

CR: Committed. It’s one of the critical ways that you deal with the spread of weapons of mass destruction. And an American president — and it won’t be this president, most likely, because many of the best technologies are in the future — an American president should have an array of defensive technologies to deal with [the problem of nuclear missiles]. But if this president doesn’t get going and research, develop, and deploy what we can, it won’t be there for the next president.

JOINT NATIONAL TRAINING CENTER IN DOD’S FUTURE, CHU SAYS, American Forces Press Service, September 20, 2002. To make interoperability a reality among the U.S. military services, a Joint National Training Center will be established in two years, DoD’s senior civilian readiness official said. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is convinced future military operations will become increasingly joint-service in character, David Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, noted Sept. 17 in an address at a conference in Alexandria, VA. “The secretary firmly believes while we have made great progress in terms of joint training over the last two or three decades, … we still have a long way to go,” Chu said. This situation, he said, reinforces the need for the new joint national training center that’s slated to start up by Oct. 1, 2004 . . . Joint training among the services, however, has most often been achie