Missile defense, hypersonics and high-energy lasers versus drones
By JAMES D. WALKER|December 2024
The Weapon System Effectiveness Technical Committee advances the science and technology of predicting, measuring, evaluating and improving the lethality of weapon systems.
In February, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and U.S. Navy conducted Flight Test Other-23, a two-part test of sensor tracking and communications links off the coast of the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii. In the first part, they demonstrated that the Aegis Weapon System could track and discriminate a complex target — in this case, a countermeasure-equipped medium-range ballistic missile air-launched from a C-17 over the Pacific Ocean. A Standard Missile-3 Block IIA launched from the Aegis intercepted the target, which MDA described as “one of the most complicated target discrimination and intercept missions by the Aegis Weapon System to date.”
Also in February, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket delivered into low-Earth orbit the first two Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor satellites, a joint program of MDA and the Space Development Agency, SDA. Also aboard were the final four Tranche 0 Tracking Layer satellites for SDA’s planned Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture constellation. In June, the HBTSS prototypes monitored the first flight of the Hypersonic Test Bed, a Kratos-built vehicle designed to provide a common platform for hypersonic experiments. For that flight, HTB-1, the Erinyes vehicle was launched from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Sensors on the HTBSS satellites collected data after launch as the vehicle was propelled to hypersonic speeds. Data was also collected on numerous experiments, both internal and external, allowing relevant testing in a hypersonic environment.
In April, MDA awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $17 billion for the Next Generation Interceptor, NGI, the updated missiles for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense segment that will intercept incoming missiles during an exo-atmospheric hit-to-kill interaction. They are to replace today’s Boeing-developed interceptors at Fort Greely in Alaska and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, and their development is a response to developments in adversary ballistic missile systems in which other countries are developing missiles that appear more mobile, survivable, reliable, accurate and longer-ranged. Each NGI will carry multiple kill vehicles, allowing for multiple impact events on one incoming missile or potentially interaction with multiple targets by each missile.
In April, U.S. directed energy weapons were deployed overseas for the first time. The Army fired its P-HEL, Palletized High Energy Laser, in an undisclosed location. The service did not disclose whether any of the targers were hit, but marked a milestone in the development of high-energy lasers that has been ongoing for many years. The P-HEL laser and its packaging, based on the LOCUST Laser Weapon System by BlueHalo of Virginia, is 1.2 meters wide, 2.2 m long and 2.1 m high. Including the weight of radar and other supporting equipment, P-HEL weighs 1,540 kilograms, and the laser has a power range of 2-20 kilowatts. The software for tracking and ensuring the beam hits and stays on target is a key feature of the integrated capability.
Finally, ballistic missile defense systems of the West performed well when extensive sorties of missiles were launched by Iran on two separate occasions.
