The Navy has awarded Raytheon a contract to build the Standard Missile-6 system. The $93 million contact includes the production of the missiles and delivery is set to being in 2011.
The Raytheon vice president of Naval Weapon Systems, Fran Wyatt, said, ”Standard Missile-6 has been on budget and on schedule since the program started in 2004” and that this contract “clears the way for delivery to the warfighter of this integral weapon system.” Wyatt went on to say that the SM-6 when combined with future fire control, “will provide the U.S. Navy with an extended battlespace capability against over-the-horizon AAW threats” and “by taking full advantage of the Standard Missile family’s kinematics, SM-6 provides signal processing and superior guidance and control capabilities.”
The SM-6 is designed to meet the U.S. Navy’s requirement for an extended-range anti-air warfare (AAW) missile and will provide a defensive capability against fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and anti-ship cruise missiles.
Iranian Brigadier General Ahmad Miqani, Commander of the Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base, is reported as saying that Iran has built a ballistic missile defense system. The reports quote the general as saying that Iran has, “build hi-tech missile defense systems capable of tracing and intercepting Cruise Missiles.” He said the project was a result of collaboration between the Iranian military, Iranian universities and Iranian businesses. He also said the indigenously produced technology would be able to complete with missile defense systems built around the world.
Despite this announcement many experts doubted the claim. Yiftah Shapir, head of the Military Balance Program at The Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv said, “I don’t believe they are capable of producing advanced surface to air missiles themselves” and added “when [Iran] really needs something, they buy it from the Russians, that’s why they are so anxious to buy the S-300.”
I know the program was cut but I still think it’s useful to be aware of the systems, their backgrounds and what their proposed capabilities were. Check it out…
The Japanese Defense Ministry said it is looking for 176.1B yen in this years budget to bolster its missile defense budget. It is planning to use at least some of this money to purchase American Patriot Advanced Capability -3 systems. The PAC-3 system is the lower tier of the Japanese missile defense shield. The upper tier is comprised of the Aegis based Standard Missile-3.
Lockheed Martin executives have recently come out in recent days to build support for the Airborne Laser (ABL). Doug Graham, vice president of Advanced Programs, Strategic and Missile Defense Systems, told reporters in Washington DC that, “We [Lockheed] have fairly strong convictions that this will work.” He added that “We want to demonstrate [ABL's] ability to protect against long-range threats. We’re figuring out logical [mission applications for] this incredibly capable asset.”
Graham’s argument is basically that the ABL is a first generation project that needs continued investment to become an effective and reliable boost-phase missile defense system in the future. The argument is expanded by others who argue that the laser technology behind the ABL could be shared with other weapons systems in the future and could prove useful in many different circumstances.
However, these comments came at a time when many defense experts see the ABL as a doomed project. It has little public support in the Obama Administration or the Department of Defense. The Administration and Secretary of Defense Gates have said they wish to keep the ABL project but would transfer it to a research and development project. Originally sla
Okay, so they’re very far away, but science can create fascinating things, like electromagnetically invisible objects. We’ll have a powerfully effective national missile defense system by the time such missile are put into play of course.
But the science that could make missile vastly more difficult to detect could also be used in interceptors. As our technology is farther along than Iran’s or North Korea’s, the interceptors could even be deployed to prevent the incoming missile from knowing to even release countermeasures.
Because this is such preliminary research, there is no way of knowing how or what will happen related to this, but some fascinating science with real potential for both offense and defense.
Posted by missiledefense 
Posted by missiledefense 
Posted by missiledefense 
Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance