Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) is the United States system for intercepting incoming warheads in space. Currently, it is a major component of the U.S. national missile defense strategy aimed against ballistic missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). GMD is administered by the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA), while the operational control and execution is provided by the US Army, and support functions are provided by the US Air Force. Previously known as National Missile Defense (NMD), the name was changed in 2002 to differentiate it from other U.S. missile defense programs, such as space-based and sea-based intercept programs, or defense targeting the boost phase and the reentry phase (see flight phases).[1]
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The system consists of ground-based interceptor missiles and radar which would intercept incoming warheads in space. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is the Prime Contractor of the program, tasked to oversee and integrate systems from other major defense sub-contractors, such as Computer Sciences Corporation. The key systems of the GMD system are:
Interceptor sites are at Fort Greely, Alaska[2][3][4] and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; a third site was planned for a proposed US missile defense complex in Poland, but was canceled in September 2009. A description of the program can be found in the Missile Defense Agency Budget Item Justification document, dated February 2007.[5]
In December 2008, the US Missile Defense Agency awarded Boeing a $397.9 million contract to continue development of the program.[6]
As of December 2010, 8 of the 16 (50%) hit-to-kill intercept tests have succeeded.
| Name | Date | Result | Description[7] |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFT-3 | October 2, 1999 | Success | This was an element test of the EKV that relied on a surrogate booster vehicle. Because the Inertial Measurement Unit malfunctioned, the EKV used a backup acquisition mode to acquire the target. |
| IFT-4 | January 18, 2000 | Failure | This was the first end-to-end system test, again relying on a surrogate booster vehicle. The test was designed to target a mock warhead, transmitting its location by GPS, and ignore a single large decoy balloon. The failure to intercept was traced to an obstructed cooling line on the EKV that disrupted the IR sensors' ability to cool down to their operating temperatures in time, leaving the EKV unable to detect its target. |
| IFT-5 | July 8, 2000 | Failure | This was the second end-to-end system test. The test was designed to target a mock warhead, transmitting its location by C-band, and ignore a single large decoy balloon. The failure to intercept occurred because the EKV did not separate from the boost vehicle due to an apparent failure of the 1553 data bus in the booster. |
| IFT-6 | July 14, 2001 | Success | This test repeated IFT-5. The prototype X-Band radar falsely reported a missed target but was confirmed by a satellite, jet, and ground stations. |
| IFT-7 | December 3, 2001 | Success | This test repeated IFT-6 except that the target booster used Orbital’s Target Launch Vehicle instead of Lockheed Martin’s Multi-Service Launch System. |
| IFT-8 | March 15, 2002 | Success | The test was designed to target a mock warhead, transmitting its location by C-band, and ignore both a large decoy balloon and two small decoy balloons. |
| IFT-9 | October 14, 2002 | Success | Twice delayed from August, this was the first test to use the Aegis SPY-1 radar, although it was not used to achieve the intercept. After the classification of decoys since May 2002, no information is known on their details. |
| IFT-10 | December 11, 2002 | Failure | The failure to intercept occurred because the EKV did not separate from the boost vehicle because a pin broke that should have activated a laser to release the boost vehicle’s restraining units. |
| IFT-13C | December 15, 2004 | Failure | Delayed several times from December 2003 due to bad circuitry, this test was designed to use the Orbital Sciences booster from Kwajalein to hit a target from Kodiak, Alaska. The target flew as planned but the booster failed to leave the ground. The failure was traced to a software problem on the 1553 communications data bus, which may be incapable of processing messages at a rate that is fast enough for the GMD system to work effectively. |
| IFT-14 | February 13, 2005 | Failure | This test repeated IFT-13C, with a booster from Kwajalein designed to hit a target from Kodiak, Alaska. Again, the target flew as planned but the booster failed to leave the ground. The failure was traced to the arms that hold the interceptor up in the silo. When they failed to fully retract, the launch was automatically aborted. |
| FTG-02 | September 1, 2006 | Success | This test involved the first ground-based interceptor launched out of Vandenberg Air Force Base to intercept a "threat-representative" target from Kodiak, Alaska. This was the first time that operational radar was used to capture targeting information. Not officially an intercept test, this was originally designed to collect data on the phenomenology of the intercept and act as a radar certification test. No decoys were used.[8] |
| FTG-03 | May 25, 2007 | Failure | With the same setup as FTG-02, the test target flew off-course and an intercept did not occur. |
| FTG-03A | September 28, 2007 | Success | This test was scheduled in response to the failure of FTG-03, this time with a successful intercept. |
| FTG-05 | December 5, 2008 | Success | This test launched a threat-representative mock warhead from the Kodiak Launch Complex, Alaska followed by a Ground-Based Interceptor from Vandenberg AFB. All components performed as designed.[9] |
| FTG-06 | January 31, 2010 | Failure | This test was to be the first to assess both a CE-II EKV and a complex target scene and the first test to use a newly developed FTF LV-2 target.[10] While the target missile and interceptor launched and performed nominally, the Sea Based X-Band Radar did not perform as expected, and an investigation will explain the failure to intercept.[11] |
| FTG-06A | December 15, 2010 | Failure | This test was similarly designed to FTG-06, over an increased distance of 4,200 miles.[12] While the Sea Based X-Band radar and all sensors performed as planned, the test was unable to achieve a planned intercept of a ballistic missile target.[13] |
| Name | Date | Result | Description[7][14] |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFT-1A | June 24, 1997 | Success | This test allowed the program to assess an EKV seeker built by Boeing to collect target phenomenological data and evaluate target modeling and discrimination algorithms for a cluster of 10 objects. Boeing was not awarded the EKV contract as a result. |
| IFT-2 | January 16, 1998 | Success | This test allowed the program to assess an EKV seeker built by Raytheon to collect target phenomenological data, and evaluate target modeling and discrimination algorithms for a cluster of 10 objects. Raytheon was awarded the EKV contract as a result. |
| BV-1 | April 28, 2001 | Success | This was a ground test to certify the procedures that lead to an actual flight test, including all ground and safety checks as well as launch and safety steps. The missile was not launched. |
| BV-2 | August 31, 2001 | Success | This was a flight test of three-stage Boeing Booster Vehicle with a mass-simulated kill vehicle payload. An anomaly occurred in the first stage vehicle roll control, but the second and third stage motors performed normally. |
| BV-3 | December 13, 2001 | Failure | This flight test of the Boeing Booster Vehicle resulted in failure when it steered off course 30 seconds after launch and was then ordered to self-destruct off the coast of California. |
| BV-6 | August 16, 2003 | Success | This was a flight test of the three-stage Orbital Sciences Booster Vehicle with a mass-simulated kill vehicle payload. The launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base proceeded normally over the Pacific Ocean. |
| BV-5 | January 9, 2004 | Failure | This flight test of the Lockheed Martin Booster Vehicle with a mass-simulated kill vehicle payload resulted in failure due to an apparent power drop that prevented the mock EKV from separating from the booster. The flight was originally delayed by the third-stage rocket motor’s circuit boards. |
| IFT-13B | January 26, 2004 | Success | This was a system-level test of the Orbital Sciences booster carrying a simulated EKV from Kwajalein Atoll against a simulated target from Vandenberg AFB in California. |
| Medium-range air-launch target | April 8, 2005 | Success | This test featured a C-17 dropping a medium-range target from its rear, 800 miles (1,300 km) northwest of the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii. |
| CMCM-1A/FT 04-2A | August 4, 2005 | Success | This test was the first of two medium-range target vehicles. |
| CMCM-1B/FT 04-2B | August 18, 2005 | Success | This test was the second of two medium-range target vehicles.[15] |
| FT 04-5/FTG 04-5 | September 26, 2005 | Success | This test was an apparent variant of IFT-19 and featured an air-launched long-range target tracked by Cobra Dane radar. |
| FT-1 | December 13, 2005 | Success | Originally designed as IFT-13A, this test featured an interceptor missile from the Ronald Reagan test site in the Marshall Islands to hit a target from Kodiak, Alaska. The operationally configured warhead and its booster left the ground successfully. |
| FTX-01/FT 04-1 | February 23, 2006 | Success | Originally designed as IFT-16, then changed to a radar characterization flight test as IFT-16A, then FT 04-1, then FTX-01. This test incorporated radar and targets testing. |
| CMCM-2B/FTC-02B | April 13, 2006 | Success | This test was a radar certification flight and featured a missile system powered by a two-stage SR-19 rocket flown from the Kauai Test Facility in the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The payload included complex countermeasures, a mock reentry vehicle, and on-board sensor package. |
| CMCM-2A/FTC-02A | April 28, 2006 | Success | This test repeated FTC-02B to test its radars in the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii against a target missile that carried countermeasures, a mock warhead, and an on-board sensor package. |
| FTX-02 | March 27, 2007 | Mixed | This test of the Sea-Based X-Band Radar revealed "anomalous behavior", and demonstrated a need for software modifications to improve performance. |
| FTX-03 | July 18, 2008 | Success | This test demonstrated the integration of missile defense sensors to support an interceptor engagement. This revealed the success of the Sea-Based X-Band Radar to be used in future missions.[16] |
| BVT-01 | June 6, 2010 | Success | A two-stage Ground-Based Interceptor successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, and after separating from the second-stage booster, the exoatmospheric kill vehicle executed a variety of maneuvers to collect data to further prove its performance in space. All components performed as designed.[17] |
Throughout the program's history, numerous test flights have been canceled. Among them, BV-4, IFT-11, -12, -13, -13A, -15, FTC-03, and most recently, FTG-04, have been canceled.[18] The pattern of canceled tests makes it difficult to determine actual project progress.[19]
Expenditures on the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense program have been estimated at US$30.7 billion. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates the contract will exceed its target cost by US$1.5 billion.[20]