According to the Deutch memo, the idea would be to modify somewhere between 20-50 Minuteman III ICBMs to carry an exoatmospheric-kill vehicle.
As U.S. intelligence revealed last week, the destructive intercept was performed by a kinetic-kill vehicle (KKV) launched onboard a medium-range ballistic missile.
During a second flight test in January, the Raytheon kill vehicle missed the target by 100 feet because two "end-game" sensors both experienced mechanical failures.
The Raytheon kill vehicle did successfully intercept a mock warhead last October, discriminating between decoys and the target and destroying the latter after briefly locking onto one of the former.
TRW's entry in a competition for the NMD kill vehicle was rejected in favor of an alternative, using different technology, being built by Hughes (now a subsidiary of Raytheon Corporation).
" They cited as proof the fact that this week's test "will not actually seek to defeat an incoming target but simply to determine if the kill vehicle can recognize an incoming warhead.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Success! A ground-based missile defense milestone
An alternative "baseline algorithm" approach developed by TRW that does not appear to have the sorts of problems said to be associated with the "extractor" is being preserved as a back-up in case the Raytheon kill vehicle ultimately proves unworkable.
" In fact, while the Pentagon's plan for this test called for the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) to perform "sensor characterization and evaluation of endgame algorithms, " in the event, it worked so flawlessly that it actually did "defeat an incoming target.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Success! A ground-based missile defense milestone
Casualties include a scale-back of the Airborne Laser program to enable enemy missile interceptions during their early launch phase, along with the elimination of the Multiple Kill Vehicle and Kinetic Energy Interceptor which uses small warheads on a single rocket to handle decoys and offer a better chance of success.
This included a scale-back of the Airborne Laser program to enable enemy missile interceptions during their early launch phase, along with the elimination of the Multiple Kill Vehicle and Kinetic Energy Interceptor which uses small warheads on a single rocket to handle decoys and offer a better chance of success.
FORBES: National Insecurity: Obama/Kerry Gun And Missile Policies To Disarm America Are Indefensible
It also ganged up on the Marine Corps with Secretary Gates to kill a desperately needed Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle that would have delivered warfighters through the surf onto hostile beaches.
FORBES: How To Waste $100 Billion: Weapons That Didn't Work Out
Medical errors kill more people each year than breast cancer, AIDS, or motor vehicle accidents.
FORBES: Health, Technology and the Forgotten Stepchild of Innovation
That brings me to the politics surrounding the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, which present something of a case study in how senior policymakers must approach proposals to kill or cut back big weapons programs.
While pulling security detail for an Army convoy stuck in gridlocked traffic, Peacock's vehicle came alongside a van full of Iraqi men who "began shouting that they were going to kill us, " she said.
应用推荐