Northrop Grumman Plays Critical Role In Missile Defense Test

MISSILE DEFENSE

Huntsville AL (SPX) Dec 14, 2005
Northrop Grumman's battle management software and launch control equipment, developed for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's ground-based midcourse defense (GMD) system, successfully performed tonight during Flight Test 1.

These systems play a vital role in launching the ground-based interceptor and orchestrating the overall engagement sequence.

Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems sector is responsible for designing and deploying the critical battle management - or GMD fire control/communications (GFC/C) - software products and the command and launch equipment (CLE) software under contract to The Boeing Company.

Flight Test 1 involved launching a ground-based interceptor from the Reagan Test Site on the Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands at 10:04 PM EST, against a simulated target missile threat.

The primary objective was to demonstrate and evaluate the interceptor launch and the exoatmospheric kill vehicle separation and performance, although successfully exercising the battle management, command-and-control and launch operations procedures were also critical to today's success.

"From the moment the ground-based interceptor is emplaced, through the entire engagement sequence, Northrop Grumman's software and hardware products play a critical role in effectively delivering weapons on target," said Frank Moore, vice president of Northrop Grumman Mission Systems' missile defense division.

"Our experienced team continues to deliver this sophisticated software system on cost and on schedule, while adapting to meet the enhanced capabilities of the GMD system. We look forward to continuing our support for MDA's defensive capability, and to increasing our leadership role in developing the battle management capability for the global layered missile defense architecture."

The GFC/C products orchestrate the components of the GMD element of the nation's midcourse missile defense program and provide critical targeting data that guide ground-based interceptors until their on-board sensors acquire their targets. The system's software coordinates sensor and interceptor operations during flight and provides vital decision-support information to combatant commanders.

The CLE software, working in conjunction with the GFC/C, controls the interceptor while on the ground, computes the detailed intercept trajectory and provides it to the interceptor, and at the appropriate time, commands the interceptor's ignition and launch.

Today's test objectives also included evaluating and exercising the divert capability of the exoatmospheric kill vehicle. This objective was highly dependent on the successful transmission of in-flight target updates from Northrop Grumman's GFC/C products.

MISSILE DEFENSE

Has BMD Become A Game Of Playing Leapfrog Against Death

Washington (UPI) Dec 08, 2005
When President Ronald Reagan first unfolded the vision of ballistic missile defense a quarter century ago, his vision was of an "Astrodome defense" - the high-tech equivalent of an impregnable fortification that could and would protect the United States and other nations for many years to come from the threat of nuclear missile attack.

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