MDA Witholds THAAD Contract Until Component Remanufactured

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is withholding a $419 million interceptor missile production contract from Lockheed Martin until the firm can remanufacture and test a faulty component, the agency’s top official said Aug. 18.

Dallas-based Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control is the prime contractor for the MDA’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, designed to destroy ballistic missiles in and above the Earth’s atmosphere.

Lockheed is under contract to deliver 50 THAAD interceptors and was expected to receive a production order for 48 more. However, an optical safety switch built by one of Lockheed’s subcontractors, Moog Inc., has repeatedly failed in testing, resulting in a production delay of at least six months, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, the MDA’s director, told reporters at the Space and Missile Defense Conference here.

“It’s very frustrating. After 10 years of development of this version of THAAD we’re down to one small component,” O’Reilly said. “I’m sure half of the Lockheed workforce would like to personally rebuild it themselves.”

US Delays Missile-Zapping Laser Test for 4th Time

An intercept test of a missile-destroying laser aboard a converted Boeing Co 747 aircraft has been postponed for a fourth time because of technical problems, the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency said.

“Troubleshooting indicates that a hot bypass valve on the aircraft is in an abnormal condition, thus not allowing for proper component cooling,” the agency said in a statement on its website. “The team is evaluating the potential causes.”

The test involving the Airborne Laser Test Bed was to have taken place Sunday morning off the California coast. A new date for the experiment will be set for the coming week, the announcement said.

Missile Shield at $10 Billion Sets Up Boeing-Lockheed Showdown

Boeing Co will compete for the first time to keep its U.S. missile defense work as Lockheed Martin Corp seeks to wrest away an order for as much as $10 billion.

The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency is preparing to take bids on a contract that Boeing has held since 1998 to design, build and operate the arsenal of satellites, radar and high- speed interceptors intended to shoot down enemy intercontinental ballistic missiles in space. The new order will be for management and maintenance.

The contest gives the companies a shot at a decade-long program as the Pentagon reins in spending increases. Riding on the outcome is Boeing’s future as a so-called systems integrator directing projects through suppliers, said Philip Finnegan, an analyst at consultant Teal Group in Fairfax, Virginia.

“For Boeing, what’s at stake in the missile defense program is not just the revenue, although that’s important,” Finnegan said. “It’s also one of the contracts Boeing based its reputation on.”

Iran Launches Assault Boats with Warning

Iran kicked off mass production of two high-speed missile-launching assault boats on Monday, warning its enemies not to “play with fire” as it boosts security along its coastline.

The inauguration of the production lines for the Seraj and Zolfaqar speedboats comes a day after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled Iran’s home-built bomber drone, which he said would deliver “death” to Iran’s enemies.

State news agency IRNA reported that Seraj (Lamp) and Zolfaqar (named after Shiite Imam Ali’s sword) speedboats would be manufactured at the marine industries complex of the ministry of defence.

Iran’s President Unveils New Long-Range Drone Aircraft

Iran unveiled a long-range unmanned bomber on Sunday, the latest in a series of announcements about new Iranian military advances as tensions rise over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at a ceremony to mark Iran’s Defense Industry Day, called the weapon a “messenger of glory and salvation for humanity” but an “ambassador of death” for Iran’s enemies.

The new aircraft, called Karrar or destroyer, can carry up to four cruise missiles and has a range of 620 miles, according to reports on state-owned media, not long enough to reach Israel.

The Karrar drone is the third such unmanned military aircraft to be announced this year and the second new weapon that Iran has unveiled in a matter of days. The United States and Israel have said they would not rule out an airstrike to stop Iran from building a nuclear bomb, and while Iran has continued to hold out the possibility of compromise, it has also showed off new long-range missiles, submarines and plans to launch high-altitude satellites.

Partners To Review Meads Direction In October

International partners funding the Lockheed Martin-led Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads) are expected to meet in October to determine the fate of the effort just as Pentagon cost estimators plan to complete a sweeping study of the price of the air and missile defense system, according to Maj. Gen. Genaro Dellarocco, program executive officer of missiles and space for the U.S. Army.

The Pentagon’s Cost Analysis and Program Evaluation (CAPE) office has been studying the life-cycle cost of the system for months. Procurement and development are estimated at $19 billion; the new estimate will include the anticipated price of operating the system.

A significant increase in cost estimates could again cast a shadow over Meads, which has suffered wavering support from the partners: Germany, which pays for 25.2% of the development; Italy, which picks up 16.7%, and the United States, which pays for the remainder. Last year, Army officials expressed concern about the program, but the Pentagon remains a partner.

U.S. Delays Anti-Missile Laser Test for Third Time

A high-profile test of a missile-destroying laser aboard a converted Boeing Co 747 aircraft has been postponed for a third time because of a technical glitch, the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency said.

The agency cited an unspecified problem with a tracking camera’s cooling system. Repairs could not be completed to fit the test window available at a range off the California coast on Tuesday night, it said.

The goal is to shoot down a mock ballistic missile more than 100 miles away, twice the range demonstrated in a maiden test on February 11, using the airborne chemical oxygen iodine laser.

The agency expects to be ready to run the delayed test in time for the next window of opportunity on the range, on Sunday, said Debra Christman, an agency spokeswoman.

MDAA Alert: “May The Force Be With You”

Dear Members and Friends,

In our galaxy next week, far beyond the lights of Los Angeles, off the Ventura Coast, our nation’s Airborne Laser (ABL) housed in a Boeing 747 will shoot in flight its laser beam at the speed of light against a target resembling a current  foreign short-range ballistic missile threat. The chemical laser beam will travel twice as far as did this past February, when the ABL successfully pierced the metal skin of two short-range ballistic missiles, destroying the targets within seconds.

These successful tests marked the only proven and demonstrated “Boost Phase” missile defense system intercept against both solid (2/3/10) and liquid (2/11/10) fueled short-range ballistic missiles. The laser, with its speed of light delivery and multiple shots, when developed and deployed can defend against what our combat commander’s fear from Iran and North Korea – salvo launches of ballistic missiles.

This technology is one of the greatest that the Department of Defense and our national labs have developed. The applications of the laser and its follow-on directed energy platforms are astounding and well exceed the value of funding invested into them. There are no other countries in the world that have this generation of technology and as such the ABL is highly coveted, especially by China and Russia.

The ABL is a revolutionary “game changer.” When fully developed and deployed it will change warfare, deterrence and drive current offensive weapon systems such as missiles, drones and aircraft that operate in the atmosphere to obsolescence; simply because the cost of the kill will be far less than the cost of the target it kills.

It is astounding that the Department of Defense has decided to invest only one percent of the current Missile Defense Agency budget in this technology. The Missile Defense Agency’s primary purpose is to research, test and develop missile defense systems.

The Airborne Laser Test Bed and Directed Energy funding needs to be increased, as the U.S. tax payer and our war fighter’s need to see;

- What this technology can really do.
- Continued development of the next irritation.
- An emergency limited deployed capability.
- A war fighter capable system.

We are much closer to President Ronald Reagan’s vision of the Strategic Defense Initiative and making nuclear weapons obsolete then to Senator Ted Kennedy’s dismissive view of Star Wars, “We cannot found national policy on fond memories of radio serials, dreams of the Old West, and the thrilling days of yesteryear. We must reject the preposterous notion of a Lone Ranger in the sky, firing silver laser bullets and shooting missiles out of the hands of Soviet outlaws.”

On behalf our of MDAA we take this opportunity to honor, recognize and show appreciation to the multitudes of men and women that made the remarkable engineering achievement of this revolutionary technology come true.

May the force be with you, and those that advance your footsteps.

Airborne Laser Test Bed Video

Respectfully,

Riki Ellison
Chairman and Founder
Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance

Russia Moving Ahead With Iran Nuclear Reactor

Russia said it will start loading a nuclear reactor in Iran with fuel next week, moving the project closer to being complete.

The August 21 arrival of fuel at the facility, which Iran says will create atomic energy but other nations fear could be used for nuclear weapons, marks a key step toward its completion, Russia said.

“This event will symbolize that the period of testing is over and the stage of physical start-up has begun,” said, Sergei Nokivov, spokesman for the Russian Atomic Agency.

Russia’s state-sponsored nuclear corporation has been under contract for several years to help Iran build the Bushehr reactor site.

Northrop Grumman Delivers First Hardware Developed for Integrated Air Defense System

On Wednesday, Northrop Grumman rolled out a prototype Army air defense battery engagement operations center – the first piece of hardware the company has developed under contract for the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, or IBCS.

Getting IBCS in the hands of soldiers is our “number one priority,” said Brig. Gen. Roger Mathews, commandant of the Army’s Air Defense Artillery Center at Fort Sill, Okla. “So today is a big day.”